


The Xyll Saga

by ErinPtah



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon
Genre: Early Work, Gen, Illustrated, Otaku Senshi, Silver Millennium Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-12-21
Updated: 2012-07-25
Packaged: 2017-11-10 15:31:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 38,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/467856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ErinPtah/pseuds/ErinPtah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Before the fall of the Silver Millennium, the princess of a neighboring star system seeks to awaken her fellow Sailor Senshi to repel the Dark Kingdom. Granted, if one of the team died in the initial attack, her quest may have failed before it began...but with refugees to protect, brainwashed comrades to rescue, and an invading enemy force to outrun, our heroes don't have time to think too much about that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prelude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The current revision of this story was written in 2002-2003. It is being posted unaltered now, ten years later, to let fellow old-school BSSM fans ooh and aww and feel nostalgic.
> 
> Profiles, worldbuilding notes, and illustrations can be found at [the Xyll Saga index](http://ptahrrific.dreamwidth.org/168460.html).
> 
> For a loose remix of the saga written in 2012, see [The Sunlit Millennium](http://archiveofourown.org/series/23821).

Furthest from the star Xyll is the planet Chronos. It is a giant planet, nearly as large as Neptune, but is not a gas giant. It has only one moon, called Ptah after the Egyptian god of creation, and nearly a trillion people live on its surface. To be accurate, they live ** _d_** on its surface.

The day of the fall of Chronos was a day of change, not only for the planet but for its entire stellar system.

The spaceport on Chronos was a stunning place. It was very near the palace, with a main room over a square mile and a second level built in the surrounding rooms. There was a platform in the main room raised above the ground to be just level with the second level's floors. In fact, the spaceport was so large and elaborate that a sign had been posted for the  tourists: NO, THIS ISN'T THE PALACE. THE PALACE IS DOWN THE ROAD, OVER THE HILL, AND TO YOUR LEFT.

These were, of course, tourists from other planets. Everyone on Chronos knew about the spaceport, at least in recent years, because of a threat that only the Chronosians knew about.

Queen Hades sat in one of the rooms of the palace. It wasn't comfortable or inviting, but her private radio room. A large screen in front of her showed a diagram of Chronos and the surrounding space. As she watched it, listening to something through a pair of headphones, a large red blip came onto the screen. "I see it, Commander," said Hades into a microphone attached to the headphones. "Is that Kiraino?"

She paused, listening, and said, "I was afraid of that. Send an alarm to all of the preset 'ports. I want everyone on Chronos to know that Kiraino Ouhi is coming."

Radio waves shone on the radar screen, bouncing off of the green blips representing Hades' fighter spaceplanes and landing all over the planet. Kiraino's fighters picked them up also, but that couldn't be helped.

Someone else also picked up the radio message warning of Kiraino's arrival: someone who was not Hades or Kiraino or part of either of their forces.

That someone else  didn't stop the message, but sent it to her underlings. They responded in the blink of an eye. Hades didn't notice the blue blip that represented the someone else's gathering fighters, nor would she have understood it if she had.

A few thousand miles from Chronos and farther from any other planet, a squad of miniature spaceplanes sped towards the place where the two forces were converging. One spacer, the leader and the one who had picked up Hades' message, broke away and sped for the spaceport, where people were being teleported from the prearranged 'ports into the spaceport and lining up in front of ten giant ships.

* * *

As they entered the first ship, a woman and a man, apparently in their early twenties, watched from the sidelines.

"It's cutting very close," said the man. "The ships will have to make ten trips each to get the entire population safe. No one should have to think about this sort of thing, Ursula-chan."

"I know," said the woman. "But Triton-kun...why does Kiraino want to destroy us?"

"Do you know what her full name - Kiraino Ouhi - means? It means queen of hate. She wasn't given that name at birth; she adopted it herself when she decided what she wanted to do with her life. She wants to rule the stellar system, and for that she needs Chronos out of the way."

Ursula sighed. "But still. We shouldn't have to save almost a trillion people from her. She must be mad, to try to destroy a planet this large. What if we can't carry the entire population of Chronos with only ten ships?"

"With your permission, Countess, I will be happy to help."

"What?" Ursula turned, looking with startled purple eyes at the lead spacer from the squad mentioned a few paragraphs ago. She stood perfectly still, wearing a light chocolate-colored adaption of the Chronosian pilots' uniform, short blonde hair swinging. "Ryn!? What are you doing here?"

"I've come to offer my services in saving the people of Chronos."

"We won't let you do a thing to the Chronosians," said Triton fiercely. "You were banished for high treason to the planet, did you think we would forget that?"

"No," replied the blonde icily. "But I thought you would remember that you need all the help you can get. My squad is out with the main defense line, fighting to stop Kiraino. I'm only here because my plane is the fastest. And I didn't betray my planet, no matter what Queen Hades or anyone else says."

Ursula sighed. "Ryn, what can I make you swear by so that I know you won't hurt the people you transport to safety?"

"Nothing. Whatever I swear by, you still won't believe me. But you do need to hurry and let me help or there won't be any time left."

"She's right, dear," said Triton. "You may as well let her."

"Oh, all right. But I warn you, Ryn, if one thing happens to any of those you transport..."

The spacer cut her off with a short nod of her head. "If they're left behind, they're dead anyway." She turned and strode off to one of the long lines approaching one massive spaceship. After a short conversation with those at the end of the line, a dozen people and all the possessions they dared try to save followed her out a side door of the spaceport.

Outside, the people loaded their things quickly into a slim violet-tinted spaceplane, then climbed in themselves. Ryn stepped into the cockpit with astonishing ease, and within seconds the plane was in the sky, then out of sight.

Half a day later, Ryn had evacuated her share of the people of Chronos. The actual spaceships meant to do this job (which carried over a million people each) were almost thoroughly loaded, but many people had opted to go with Ryn since she would get them off the planet so much _faster_ , whereas the spaceships had yet to take off with their first load.

As another group of people, including a man with two seven-year-old girls, climbed into Ryn's spaceplane, the girl strode over (never once did she walk at a casual pace) to Ursula and Triton. "Countess, Count, please come on my plane," she said in a firm voice. "My spacers have radioed me that Kiraino is far closer than originally predicted, and you need to be safe."

"What? No! I've got to stay here and make sure everyone is taken to safety!" cried Countess Ursula.

"I'll stay here, Ursula-chan," said Count Triton. "Don't worry. You need to go with Ryn. No buts," he added as Ursula opened her mouth to say, 'But-' "You're going with her and that's final."

The Countess sighed and followed Ryn back to the plane. The pilot leaped in with feline ease and they were gone within moments, soaring up and out of Chronos' atmosphere.

* * *

The spaceplane was approaching Ptah's orbit when small footsteps made Ryn glance away from her controls. One of the young girls - with gold-streaked blue hair and pretty blue-green eyes - had found her way into the cockpit. "Go back to your family," the spacer said. "I'm busy."

"You're amazing," said the girl, ignoring Ryn's directive. "How did you get to be so fast?"

"Like I tell every single person who asks that stupid question - practice," Ryn replied. "Now go back..."

"My name's Moonie. I already know who _you_ are. You're Ryn-sama. My cousin Sandy and me think you're really cool." Moonie had obviously not heard about Ryn's charge of treason.

Suddenly the cockpit lit up for a brief but startling instant. "What was that?" asked Moonie, clinging to the back of Ryn's seat.

"Nothing on this plane." As she said that, Ryn realized just what the flash of light had been. "Get out of here - NOW," she snapped in an authoritative tone that not even the precocious child could disobey. "And tell everyone to hold on!" the pilot called as she forced her plane into a speed that would be deadly if they connected with anything larger than a slice of bread.

Several more flashes of light occurred, happening more and more often as the minutes passed with agonizing slowness. Ryn turned abruptly, causing a mild commotion in the hold-turned-passenger-area, and headed for the massive moon of her home planet. She landed on the far side of Ptah just as there was a cataclysmic explosion and a series of flashes of light alternating with, inexplicably, flashes of _dark._

Chunks of rock and debris and magma came hurling past Ptah, at the edge of Ryn's vision. Only the moon at their backs shielded her and her human cargo from being hit with burning debris from a dead planet.

Chronos was no more.

* * *

Only one citizen of Chronos had survived other than the ones Ryn had flown to safety, and that was Queen Hades. Her long silky green-black hair was a mess and her garnet eyes were wounded but proud.

The queen was now standing in front of a woman with black hair, red eyes, and a dress of deep purple that was very revealing. Her nails were blood red and several inches long, and she had vampirelike fangs. Her skin was an unreal white.

"Kiraino," said Hades calmly.

"Queen of Chronos," said Kiraino. "Now the Queen of nothing. Your planet is now a billion fragments of rock - what was not utterly obliterated by Dark energy, anyhow. So tell me, how do you feel?" She grinned. Hades stared back, fiercely silent.

A spear of green liquid hit Hades in the back, followed by a smattering of white and red pellets that stung like a swarm of bees. Lashes of purple fur and red fire cut into her from both sides. She fell to her knees. "Those were my generals, Hades-sama," hissed Kiraino. "I will let them torture you before I kill you. Unless you tell me where the remaining Chronosians are hiding!"

"I don't know," said Hades quietly. "I don't know where they are. But I'll tell you this: My daughter is alive."

"WHAT?" screamed Kiraino. "How can this be? Who is she? Where is she?"

"Even if I knew where she is, I would not tell you," growled Hades. "But as to her identity: She is Sailor Chronos, one of the Greatest Sailor Senshi with powers beyond any you posses."

"But she does not know she is a Sailor Soldier," mused Kiraino. "Otherwise I would have felt her presence. Mighty Metallia would have felt her presence. So all I must do is find her and kill her before she learns of her power. And then there is you..."

She pointed one long finger at Hades and laughed. The laugh echoed through her spaceship, down corridors and through rooms. By the time she had finished laughing, the echo of her laugh had returned to the chamber she was in. And the fingernail she had held out had grown so that it touched Hades' throat. It grew another few millimeters, and slashed the Queen's skin. A drop of blood welled up, and the fingernail touched it.

Instantly poison spread through the Queen of Chronos' blood, which made her feel as if she were on fire. She screamed, as all scream who are feeling Kiraino's specialty torture: the Dokuchishio. By the time it had died down, she was dead. Her body lay on the ground in a smooth pose, graceful to the end.

* * *

Having taken off as soon as the flood of debris let up, Ryn finally landed on Antigone, the second planet in from Chronos. She eased her spaceplane into a crevice between two rocks and from there into a hidden but massive cave network. Her passengers unloaded their things and walked behind her down a stone corridor to a huge  
passengers were walking beside her. Inside the cave, all of them except Countess Ursula separated to merge with the crowd.

Ryn slipped a miniature gun from one boot and, before Ursula could react, fired at the wall. The resulting shots got everyone's attention.

The countess stepped to the front, looking surprisingly graceful in her purple and black robes for all that they had been through. "As your countess, minna-san," she called into the crowd, her voice amplified by the rock above her, "it is my painful duty to inform you that your home planet has been...demolished. It doesn't exist any more. Kiraino ... disintegrated it."

A collective gasp swept the room. Ursula turned and left the front, and then noticed that Ryn was gone. The Countess left the crowd, which had begun talking almost immediately, and stepped into the cavelet next to it, where Ryn had parked her spaceplane.

As she had suspected, Ryn was there.

"I'm sorry," said Ursula. "For doubting your loyalty, I mean," she added quickly. "All of the Chronosians still alive are because of you, and I thank you. Back ... on Chronos ... you said you didn't betray your planet. What did happen then?"

Ryn awarded the countess a wry smile. "The police and other security organizations were penetrated by Kiraino's youma a long time ago; otherwise she would never have been able to get so near the planet before it could muster a good defense. I detected the infiltration not long after I graduated, and I along with my spacer squad spied on and attacked. You can see the conclusion the public came to: a young pilot attacking organizations meant to protect general well-being, with no real reason. I could give no satisfactory answers to the questions asked me at the trial, rather like I could give no satisfactory proof earlier today that I wouldn't hurt the Chronosians. And thus I was found guilty of treason to the planet and exiled from Chronos."

"I see." There was an uncomfortable pause. "Well ... I'd better get back to them then. See you later, I suppose." She left for the larger cavern, and Ryn, after waiting a moment, left the cavelet.

The pilot returned to the surface of Antigone to sit on a shelf of rock above the caves and think. She wondered about Bridgit, her teacher at Spacers' Academy. Though she'd been rather like a mother to Ryn, the spacer had been unable to find her mentor among the citizens in line for the evacuation spaceships. And none of those ships had gotten even one load off of the ground. Bridgit was almost certainly dead.

Ryn had only been sitting and thinking for a few moments when a navy blue spaceplane appeared in the sky. It landed quite near Ryn, who recognized it instantly as a member of her squad. The pilot leapt out with skill comparable to Ryn's own, and approached her leader hesitantly.

Standing up to greet the new arrival, Ryn smiled slightly at her. "Kichou-san. You made it."

The brunette nodded wearily. "I'm the only one, Ryn-sama," she said quietly. "Kiraino decimated our and the Queen's spacers alike."

Ryn nodded sharply, the smile vanishing. "Head for your branch of the cave. You need rest," she said, gesturing to the hidden cave entrance.

"What about you? You're as tired as I am."

"I'll manage. I always have. Let's go." And the two entered the large cave, unaware that Kiraino was discussing them at that very moment.

* * *

More specifically, she was screaming about them.

"You let a spacer escape?" she shrieked at a small hairy green youma. "First you allow a thousand Chronosians to escape, and then one of those infernal spacers? Any one of them could be Sailor Chronos!"

"My queen, I assure you none of them are Sailor Chronos. We've been doing tests and the only one of them with any power is the pilot who was, er, most unfortunately liberating some of your victims.

"And that wasn't Chronos power. It was her own inner power, which comes from her, well, loyalty to her planet- or what's left of it. And that's not much, because of your fine and wonderful destruction - no! Please, please my queen, no!"

The youma was shrieking because Kiraino's fingernail was extending. "No, I've done nothing, it was...it was Halia! Yes! That was it!"

"Don't lie to me about my finest general," said Kiraino. "Hold still, youma. The pain will increase if you move." She then made a small cut at the youma's throat, and the Dokuchishio began. Kiraino drew her nail away much sooner from the youma that she had from Queen Hades. "Let that be a lesson to you: Never allow someone to escape who I have commanded should not escape," she hissed.

"Yes! Yes, my queen, yes! I understand perfectly, my queen!" The problem with lying, cheating, and backstabbing your way to the top of Kiraino's ranks was that she often chopped off the top. Her generals were excepted from this, but youma were not. This particular youma was not happy about its situation, especially the fact that it was in charge of reporting failures to the Queen.

* * *

"Goddess Hestia!" called the Queen of Kiraino's next target planet. "Hearth goddess, please answer our prayers and come to our aid!" She was standing in front of a giant fireplace, where the flames were glowing brilliant gold. "Save us from Kiraino's attack!"

The fire turned white and then transparent, revealing a terrifying scene. Elsewhere on the planet was an agricultural region with fire raining down on it from Kiraino's spacecraft. Suddenly a huge translucent figure appeared on the field. It solidified into a tall and ferocious-looking blue and green glowing goddess.

Hestia reached out and swept away the fighter craft, then reached through space to field that was burning in fire shot by Kiraino's fighters. She stepped off of the ground and into the sky above her patron planet, reaching for the mothership in which Kiraino sat.

Less than ten minutes later, Kiraino's fleet was tearing away from the planet at top speed. But even as the witch-queen left, she was plotting her return to the Xyll system to avenge her defeat...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's some missing text at the start of the third-last section. I have no idea what it was supposed to be, so it's being left as-is.
> 
> Bad astronomy: rocky planet the size of Neptune? Phew. Also, all the planets are on the same side of the sun. This will be a continuing theme.  
> Good astronomy: real-life spacecraft, when taking off, have to make sure their path is clear of anything bread-sized or larger.
> 
> Gratuitous Japanese:  
> "kirai no ouhi" (queen of hate)  
> "doku chishio" (poison blood)
> 
> Mary Sue Checklist for Ryn:  
> (x) blatantly named after the author  
> (x) sent off-planet for a crime she didn't commit  
> (x) has "astonishing" skill at...getting into the cockpit of her plane  
> (x) kids instinctively think she's awesome  
> (x) stoic and self-sufficient while narrative piles on her
> 
> Not Actually A Reference:  
> I had yet to see any of the original Battlestar Galactica when this was written, and the reboot hadn't come out yet. Any resemblance in plot-kicking-off events is completely coincidental. (It might have been influenced by the explosion of Alderaan in Star Wars, but I couldn't swear either way.)


	2. Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which we meet the first few princesses. One joins our established party of good guys, one has an encounter with the bad guys, and one sets out on a quest...

If your home planet was blown up, you probably wouldn't feel too happy about it. Throw in the fact that less than a thousand of your planet's residents survived and that an evil woman with mystical powers wanted all of them, including you, dead, and most people would probably start feeling suicidal.

But not Moonie. Today was her eighth birthday, and nothing was going to spoil it, not even the fact that her home planet had been blown up just four weeks ago. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and she was due to get a small party that afternoon, even if there wasn't much available with which to make presents.

* * *

The sun wasn't shining on the palace on planet Rhea, which was the innermost of the five. There was a simple reason for this: it was nighttime there. Only two people were awake on that side of the planet. One of the people was the Queen of Rhea herself, Cybele Lobelia. Cybele was sitting in front of a golden fire and staring at the crystal in her hand. It was very nicely cut in the shape of a faceted star, and shone brilliantly pink.

"I wish I could see you, Star-sama," she murmured. "Wisest of the Luna Cats. I wish I could ask your advice, but I must make this choice on my own. No one can decide this but the Keeper of the Star Crystal, and that title has fallen to me now."

She lifted the crystal. "The Star Crystal has power to protect, but not enough to stop Kiraino. I have no choice then, really. Katsuhari!" With that word she hurled the Star Crystal to the ground, where three of the points smashed off with a faint tinkle.

The second person awake at that hour was Cybele's daughter, who was hiding behind a curtain in the same room as the golden fire. She was not near enough to hear what her mother was saying, but she saw the crystal smash and let out an audible gasp. Cybele whirled around and brushed her long deeply pink hair out of her face. "Rose-chan!" she whispered.

Rose stepped out from behind the curtain. "Okaa-sama, why did you smash the Star Crystal? It can't stop Kiraino broken, and you know she's coming back."

"It can't stop Kiraino whole either," replied her mother.

"But you could have tried! You could have added the powers of all the people. It might have helped!"

"It would not have worked." Cybele raised a hand to stop Rose asking another question. "I know the Crystal's limits. The reason I smashed it is that, in pieces, it can create a much stronger power which could stop Kiraino. Take this." She pressed the largest piece of the Crystal, the center and two of the points, into Rose's hand. "Hold it up and say, 'Rhea Crystal Power, Make Up'."

Feeling sort of stupid, Rose said, "Rhea Crystal Power ..." Suddenly she felt warm and comfortable. With a little more confidence she finished: "Make UP!"

She was floating in midair. Long ribbons of pink silk were flowing from the crystal to wrap around her. They formed a white bodice from which spread a vibrant pink skirt held in place by a golden sash. A similar sash appeared on her upper left arm, while white gloves with gold edges materialized on her forearms. Tall pink and gold boots slipped onto her feet. Little earrings seemed to grow around her ears, a gold choker wrapped around her neck, and, as the piece of the Star Crystal settled on her chest, a vibrant pink sailor collar flowed from it to cover her shoulders. Her eyes opened by themselves as Rose felt her arms and legs arranging themselves into an attractive pose. She was not aware that she was surrounded in light until it faded to reveal the room she had been in.

"Good job, Rose-chan," said Cybele. "Now tell me: Have you learned anything at all about the stellar system of Asgard?" Rose nodded. "Do you know what a Sailor Senshi is?" Another nod. "Good. Then I don't have to explain how this happened. I realized you were Sailor Rhea about a month ago, when Kiraino first attacked. You have to find the other Sailor Senshi. Only together do you have the power to stop the Queen of Hate."

Rose nodded. "I'll find them, Okaa-sama. Don't worry." 

* * *

The Queen of Hestia was worrying very much at that moment. Her fighters were above the palace battling Kiraino's, which had swarmed the planet half an hour before. The Hestian pilots were losing. All that was left were the elite pilots of the Alpha squad, and not many of them. The few still alive couldn't save the orbiting space colonies, which were destroyed also.

One of the remaining pilots was attacked by three of Kiraino's black ships, and the end of the Alpha ship burst into flame. Even with that to deal with, the pilot maneuvered the ship so closely to the palace that it knocked off part of a balcony as it fell. When the smoke cleared, it became apparent that the pilot had jumped from the ship so that she landed on what was left of the balcony. She ran inside through a suite full of white lacy hangings and into a bathroom, where she removed her helmet and washed her face and hands.

Washed and brushed, it was obvious that the pilot was a rather pretty girl in her late teens. Her teal hair, though bound by a green scrunchie, was long and silky, and the bangs, when brushed, fell artfully around her face. She moved around the palace suite as though she belonged there as much as in a fighter plane.

Vanishing momentarily among the rows of clothes in a closet large enough to hold a picnic table, she emerged in a pale green dress that was far too lacy by normal standards but looked like it was the least frilly thing in there.

The pilot sat down on the bed looking considerably cleaner than she had on the balcony, although most smart people would have known she had been flying a fighter. The maid who burst in then was not one of the aforementioned smart people. She threw open the door and cried, "Helenity-hime! Your mother wants to see you now."

Helenity - for the pilot really was Helenity - stood up. Audiences with her mother were rare, and usually meant Helenity had done something wrong. "Did she say why?" she asked, but the maid had gone, and the princess had no choice but to follow.

* * *

On Antigone, the Chronosians jumped as a huge crash shook the ground outside their cavern. Those who were near enough to hear wondered what it was, but Ryn alone went outside to find out. An escape capsule, clearly of Hestian make, had landed near the caves and created a nice new crater in the process. The reason Ryn knew it was Hestian was because it had no heat shields - so it was covered by a thick crust of burned and twisted metal.

Ryn climbed into the crater formed by the impact, pried a large stone out of the ground, and started hacking away at the metal until she found the door. It was too hot on the outside to pull open, but someone on the inside could and did push it open: someone in a tattered dress that had been fancy not too long ago, with tousled teal hair.

"Hestia no hime?" asked Ryn, raising an eyebrow. "What are you doing here?"

"I was sent away from Hestia for my _safety._ " Helenity spat out the word as though it left a bad taste in her mouth. "I was on a ship but it got attacked by some of Kiraino's fighters. I got sent out in an escape pod while the ship kept the fighters busy. So where am I? For that matter - who are YOU?"

"Somewhere on Antigone," said Countess Ursula, who had come up behind Ryn. "What's wrong on Hestia? Kiraino?"

"She's turned the planet into a wasteland," said Helenity quietly. "I think she's killed almost everyone on the planet, and blasted most of it into fields of char and rock and dust. The palace is intact, but other than that ..." She shook her head as though to clear it. "I saw Hestia, the goddess, come up to help the way she did before, but this time she didn't win. Something got her early on ... it looked like a long red thing, from Kiraino's mother ship ..."

"The Dokuchishio," whispered Ursula in horror. "She must have gathered enough power over the last month to use it on a goddess. That must be incredibly powerful. Helenity-hime ... I'm surprised you're not having a nervous breakdown ..."

She escorted the princess from the crater and to the cave. Ryn slipped into the capsule and looked around for anything useful, but the tiny thing had nothing except thick wool padding and an oxygen generator in it. The padding was fastened to the walls and would come off in useless shreds, but she took the oxygen generator. It was small and easily portable.

Ryn lugged the generator back to her cavelet, then went to sit on the rock shelf above the caves. She had sat there to think many a day in the past, and it always served her well. Disregarding the fact that she hadn't wished Moonie a happy birthday yet, the spacer considered the implications of Helenity's words. Kiraino had gone in as far as Hestia. She'd skipped Antigone for obvious reasons: the planet was in a different spot in its orbit, and Hestia was the closer target. Watching the sun set, Ryn sighed.

* * *

At the same moment, Queen Cybele watched the sun rise on Rhea. She was still sitting in the throne room, although the fire had died down. Rose had fallen asleep in her lap, still in senshi form. At twelve, the princess was too young to be tied up in such things, but Cybele had no choice. She was too old to use the senshi power to its greatest effect.

Rose stirred, then looked up into her mother's somber face. "What's wrong, Okaa-sama?"

"There are several people in Rhea's capital who can tell if something happens to the Star Crystal. It's an ability they were given as a precaution. They know what's happened and a large group of people have gathered to stop whoever's smashed the Crystal from attacking them," Cybele explained. "After all, the Star Crystal is the only form of protection most people know about for this system.

"Those same people can also sense, very dimly, when the Star Crystal's keeper is feeling extreme emotion. In this case, they can feel that I'm very stressed out right now, and assume it's because someone evil broke the Crystal. When they find out that I did it, they won't be as understanding as you, Rose-chan. They'll think I'm with Kiraino."

"But how could they? I mean, you're one of the people least likely to ally yourself with her in the whole Xyll system!"

"I know, and you know, but they don't know. They'll try to kill me, and I am almost sure they will succeed."

"NO!" Sailor Rhea threw herself into her mother's arms. "Okaa-sama, you've gotta run! You can't die, not now!"

"Oh Rose-chan." Cybele stroked her daughter's hair, which was shorter and lighter than the Queen's and fell unchecked in a tangled heap. "I love you. You know that. I love you and care more about you than I do about myself. But this has to happen or ... I shouldn't tell you this, maybe, but knowledge is power and we need all the power on our side that we can get. I've talked to the one who guards time recently, and she tells me I was meant to die today."

Rose stared. She'd heard fairy tales about the one who guards time, of course, but never thought of her as a person whom her mother - her very own _mother_ , queen though she was - could talk with.

"It has to happen or the future will be distorted. Things will happen that should not happen, and vice versa. I have to die, darling, but as long as you keep these pieces of the Crystal safe, I will be with you. I am the Guardian of the Star Crystal and will not be lost until it is broken into a trillion fragments impossible to put together, or everyone I have loved forgets me."

Rose looked out of the window. "They're inside, Okaa-sama. Should I hide?" She was crying silently, fighting to keep her voice calm.

"Hide, Rose-chan. Don't stay here, don't watch me. Leave in a starsuit; there's one hidden behind my throne. I repeat, don't stay here. That's a direct order from your queen."

"Yes Okaa-sama."

"I love you, Rose."

"I love you, Okaa-sama. I'll always love you, no matter what." Rose climbed down from the throne and found the miniature spacesuit and rocket pack behind it. Her mother left the room as the princess donned both pieces of equipment. A kawaii pink bunny backpack was also with the equipment; opening it, Rose found bottled water, canned food, and a rainbow colored rag doll that she knew had been her mother's.

At that point Rose almost ran back, but she swallowed, tucked the backpack safely into the starsuit, and went out onto the balcony of the next room. From there she took off.

She never saw her mother again.

In the palace, the people of Rhea had tried to burn Cybele at the stake. It was the custom usually used for those believed to have dark energy in them. The queen did not resist as she was bound to a tall metal pole and a fire was lit around her feet. Before the fire could touch her, though, Cybele collapsed and disintegrated into a pile of ashes.

The pole and the ashes were left to lie on the palace floor, and the search was on for the missing princess: undoubtedly an accomplice, even if she was an unknowing one, of her mother.

* * *

Rose (still transformed) landed outside of the semitransparent lunarglass dome around a colony on one of Rhea's moons. She tapped out a signal on the dome next to an airlock, and it slid open; she stepped into and then through it, opening the starsuit helmet for some fresh air.

The princess wandered the streets warily until she found a podhouse: a public sleeping area in which the citizens paid not with money or credit but with energy. Citizens would lie down in one of the pods (from which the name 'podhouse' derived) and their energy would be drained, causing them to fall asleep instantly and begin the natural restorative process. The energy collected was used in part to power the colony.

Rose checked her starsuit and rocket pack in at the front desk of the podhouse, then climbed into one of the pods still clutching her bunny bag and fell asleep instantly.

* * *

In the monitor room of the pods, an cadet looked at his screen boredly. Staring at the data displays all day gave him a headache, and he'd never actually seen a pod drain too much energy from someone, so in his opinion he had too few opportunities to exercise his intelligence. Suddenly his eyes widened. "Sergeant!" he called to the attendant military officer. "You'd better take a look at this!"

The officer, who was one of a patrol assigned to look out for the renegade Princess Rose in the colony, had been expecting a few days of rest and relaxation (referred to as "boredom" by less busy personages). As he looked at the screen, his eyes also opened wide. "That's a trademark energy signature. The princess is in that pod!"

The cadet nodded shortly. "Should I set the pod to drain excess energy, sir?"

"Good idea. It'll put her off her guard. I'll send an armed guard to meet her when she gets up." The sergeant began shouting into a walkie-talkie while the cadet's fingers flew over the keypad and Rose's sailor fuku faded back into her normal clothes.

* * *

On planet Antigone, the princess wasn't sleeping, but she was pretty close to it. There's a long story behind that.

As the last remaining member of the royal family of her split-by-civil-war kingdom, the princess' education was handled by several high-ranking officials who were determined that she would have the wisdom to unite the kingdom again. However, the princess' nine-to-five lessons had so far failed to encourage a thirst for knowledge in her. It had done just the opposite, actually.

"Jennifity-hime," said one of her teachers in her usual voice (exasperated), "you must pay attention to what I teach you or you will not be able to rule Antigone wisely."

"I don't want to rule Antigone wisely," protested Jennifity, waking up a little. "If I've told you once I've told you a thousand times: I want to be a jeweler.

"I don't care if I was bred to rule," she added, seeing the teacher about to speak up and anticipating her usual phrase. "I'm just not cut out for the job. And when in my rule will I have to rely on my calculus knowledge anyway? Or my exhaustive studies of the history of the Xyll system colonization?"

"You may or you may not. But it is best to have the knowledge in case it is needed," said the teacher evasively.

"Yeah, yeah ... YOW!" Teacher and student were thrown into the wall by an explosion outside the building.

The teacher ran outside, muttering, "Who knows where we are?" She didn't come back in.

After a moment or two Jennifity was about to investigate, but she was for some reason distracted by the perfectly normal fact that the building started blowing apart. It was only a little one-room brick house after all, and the destructive beams of Kiraino's smallest fighters were enough to tear it apart.

This wasn't her smallest fighters attacking. It was the mothership. Kiraino herself had come down to the planet, and as the bricks of the house flew away, she stepped over the wreckage of the door and looked at the princess.

"Kiraino? What are you doing on Antigone?" asked Jennifity in a shaky voice.

The queen of hate didn't speak, much less reveal that the reason she had come was to search for the remaining Chronosians. She knew they were nearby, and was determined to find them and kill them all. That would mean the power of Chronos would weaken, and if Aeriannity was still alive she would have even less chance of discovering her powers. While searching for them, she had learned the location of the princess of Antigone and had decided to kill two birds with one stone.

Kiraino loved that expression.

She looked down on Jennifity, considered performing the Dokuchishio on the Princess, and decided against it. Instead, she prepared to begin the Hatsushinshin.

"I said, what are you doing?" asked Jennifity more firmly. "Why are you here? Leave this planet now!"

"I don't think so," said Kiraino, and pointed a finger at the princess. But instead of extending, the sharp red fingernail began to curl. With a sound like the crack of a whip, there was a flash of light and red sparks followed by a lot of smoke around the princess, who hadn't made a sound.

The smoke cleared away.

In Jennifity's place stood a woman who looked like an older version of the princess. She was tall, slim, and pale blonde. Slowly she stretched her arms, looking at the ice-blue fingernails that were otherwise identical to Kiraino's, and flexed her legs beneath a dark blue velvety skirt. Then she looked at Kiraino. "Why have you brought me into existence?" she asked in a cold replica of Jennifity's voice.

"Ah, you are inquisitive. That is a sign that you are made sane and intelligent. Your name is Lady Akui, and you have been brought to serve Metallia. I have given you an older body and a new mind so that you may help her, and you have the powers of this body's former occupant as well. I am Kiraino Ouhi and you will come with me now." Kiraino turned to her ship and entered, and Lady Akui, formerly Princess Jennifity of Antigone, followed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Asgard system was one that fell to Chaos before this story begins, in a whole other epic that I only wrote bits of. Nothing survives of that except the [Valhalla Senshi designs](http://sailorptah.deviantart.com/art/V-Valhalla-System-Senshi-179310392).
> 
> In retrospect, I really like the detail that draining human energy isn't an inherently evil process only ever used by bad guys. Done with consent, it's a legitimate municipal power source.
> 
> Bad astronomy: sooo many tiny objects reaching escape velocity. You'd think I could at least have worked in a transporter system.  
> Good astronomy: hey, some recognition of orbits!
> 
> Gratuitous Japanese:  
> "katsu hari" (smash crystal)  
> "Okaa-sama" (Mom)  
> "Hestia no hime" (Princess of Hestia)  
> "kawaii" (cute)  
> "hatsushinshin" (new mind and body)  
> "Akui" (malice)


	3. Part Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which there are more rendezvouses among the good guys, jockeying for position among the bad guys, and another panicked flight through space at improbable speed.

Countess Ursula was officially in charge of the Chronosian colony, but she knew that Ryn was really running the show. The pilot was far more experienced in hiding from an organization who wished her dead, and keeping a group of people in the same situation safe. Although Ursula would have been content to remain on Antigone for as long as possible, it was Ryn who saw that they couldn't stay there forever; Antigone was not a safe place, politically, for so many people.

It was also Ryn who decided that a simple enough new 'home' for the Chronosian survivors would be the uninhabited second moon of the planet Rhea. Although nobody lived there, a series of lunarglass domes still existed from a failed colony attempt; if used properly and supplied with oxygen, the pilot was certain the colony could thrive.

And if there was something Ryn was not good at, business was not that thing. She took a day to visit the nearest large town and returned with enough CO2/O2 converters to rearrange the bad breath of a million people into good fresh air ... as well as a rather nice pair of boots and a switchblade; where she'd gotten them from, nobody dared ask.

Shortly after that, Ryn, Kichou, and Ursula quickly set in motion a system for getting all the Chronosians to Rhea but never leaving them unsupervised. The countess remained on Antigone while Ryn and Kichou flew two loads of people and their things to Rhea's moon. Then Ryn made the return journey (at twice the speed), flew another load of passengers, and waited on the moon while Kichou made a similar journey. As the pilots alternated flights, there was always someone supervising the growing numbers on the moon.

* * *

Princess Helenity was still on Antigone, sitting atop a fairly smooth hill on a rocky mountain. She hadn't flown a fighter plane since the explosion of her own on Hestia, and knowing that she'd lost hers while failing to save her planet made her rather upset. Although a small town was within sight from the height that the princess was at, she paid no attention to it.

Countess Ursula, whose borrowed clothes the princess was wearing, walked up behind her. "Helenity-hime, are you all right?"

The teal-haired pilot looked up slowly. "Of course I'm not. Do you have any ..." She paused. "Well, yes, you _would_ have an idea of what it's like to watch helplessly as your planet is destroyed, don't you?" she asked with a humorless smile.

Ursula nodded. "Hai, unfortunately. But was there anything you _could_ do, really?" She sat down next to the princess. "I was heavily involved with the organization of the evacuation effort - but you weren't -"

Helenity cut her off. "Do you realize I was a fighter pilot? Not just any fighter pilot either. Under an assumed identity, I was a member of the _Alpha_ squad." Seeing Ursula's shock replaced by momentary confusion, she explained, "That's the elite fighters, the very best at what they do. And what they do is fly planes meant to protect our planet. Protect it, Countess. And I failed at that."

Speechless, the countess looked down at the (rather magnificent) view. Her eyes suddenly grew wide. "What on Chronos - I mean - well - what IS that??" she exclaimed. Helenity followed Ursula's gaze down to the small town at the foot of the mountain; a figure was hovering over it shooting what looked like bolts of ice at the buildings.

"Ohmigosh!" cried Helenity. "Who's she? What's going on? Is it Kiraino?"

"That's not Kiraino. She does look a bit like her, though. Maybe it's one of her servants. We need to let Ryn know about this," said Ursula, not noticing Helenity's surprise that the countess deferred to the spacer. "Everyone needs to be off of this planet and they need to be off as soon as humanly possible."

Although shocked by the news, Ryn made a quick decision, and the people of Chronos felt a strange sense of déja-vu: once again they were being hauled off-planet at top speed. On all of Ryn and Kichou's hasty trips (they had abandoned the trade-off system in favor of speed), they were never interrupted by any of Kiraino's fighters.

Of course, this was because Lady Akui was really running the show on Antigone, but Ryn didn't know that.

* * *

Rose stretched, yawned, and opened her eyes. Then she gasped. "Who are you?" she demanded of the armed guards around her, feigning confusion.

"You know perfectly well who we are, Rhea-hime. We just need you to answer a few simple questions about your mum and Kiraino, and then we'll let you go, see?" asked the guards' leader.

"There is nothing to tell," said Rose stubbornly.

"Question One," the leader continued, ignoring her statement. "What is the exact arrangement between the Queen of Rhea and the Queen of Hate?"

"They are archenemies," snapped Rose. She had hoped that the Rheaiite moons' law enforcement would be less hostile and more receptive to truth than the Rheaiites, but had no such luck. Also, she hadn't slept well, and that always made her irritable. "Rhea Crystal Power ..."

"Look out!" yelled a guard. "She might blast you with ill-gotten power!" His phrasing was a bit archaic, but nevertheless all of his companions took it seriously and hit the dust.

"... Make UP!" And Rose was transformed, standing in front of the guards.

"She's a Sailor Soldier!" exclaimed one of the guards, a look of awe on his face.

"She's using dark powers!" yelled another.

"Dark powers? How dare you accuse your princess of such treason? I am the princess of planet Rhea, the sailor bishoujo senshi, Sailor Rhea!" Sailor Rhea took each of her hairbands in the opposite hand and pulled from them a flood of fog, saying as she did so, "Dust Bunnies Hop!"

A flood of gray fluffy rabbits assaulted the guards, and in the confusion Rhea escaped. When the bunnies dissipated, the leader swore. "Spread out and scan for her power signature," he commanded. "She can't get far."

The guards split up and began to comb the colony.

* * *

Meanwhile, Lady Akui was combing the cities on Antigone, looking for survivors.

"Our next target: Dido," said Kiraino, appearing above her. "It has an untapped energy source that we can use." She smirked. "I will lead the attack on Dido."

"What?" cried Akui. "I shall lead that attack!"

"No, you will not, for this reason. On Dido there is a young woman who may have power over you. You do not have the ability to destroy her. I do. If she gets to you, it will mean your downfall."

Lady Akui had a mind of her own, and didn't care that it was Kiraino who had given her that mind. She thought little of the Queen of Hate, and for this reason Kiraino loved to get the better of her.

Grudgingly, Akui admitted that her rival was right. The two of them returned to the mothership in a flash of blue and black, unaware that their biggest obstacle was currently running for her life.

* * *

Sailor Rhea turned a corner and ran right into a younger guard, the one who had realized she was a Sailor Senshi. He was only two or three years older than herself. She jumped back and put her hands to her hairbands, ready to attack.

The guard put up his hands in a gesture of peace. "Calm down. I'm not here to attack you. I know what the Sailor Senshi stand for."

"Elaborate," commanded Sailor Rhea, relaxing about a millimeter.

"Sailor Soldiers are protectors of their guardian planets. They cannot be evil because they exist to fight evil and protect the citizens of their planets. If you're a Soldier and have received your magic abilities, then you can't be evil. And I have noticed the piece of the Star Crystal you used to transform. It explains why your mother performed the Katsuhari."

He dropped to his knees and bowed his head, which convinced her that he trusted her: he wouldn't've taken his eyes off of her otherwise. "You are my princess, and I am sworn to protect you. I will fulfill my duty."

Sailor Rhea let her hands fall to her sides. "What is your name?"

"Otohimeno Mamorinuku."

"Well, Otohimeno-san, I accept your protection."

"Thank you, Rhea-hime."

They continued running in silence, turning corners and moving down streets, until they got to the square. "Nobody's here," noted Sailor Rhea.

"They're all in sleeping pods except for the guards," explained Mamorinuku. "You woke up unusually early, Rhea-hime, even for a normal person, and you had been drained of energy deliberately. I suspect the Star Crystal's energy fed into you, keeping you on the normal sleep cycle."

They began to cross the square. Suddenly, from behind all the buildings around it, guards stepped. The total number surrounding them must have been a hundred.

"Careful, Otohimeno-san!" called the leader. To Sailor Rhea he called, "I want you to put your hands in the air. And keep them away from those hair clips of yours! Any clouds of dust bunnies and we shoot." The hundred guards cocked their guns.

"She's a Sailor Senshi, Ayabumu-sama!" Mamorinuku shouted to the leader. "Surely you know what that means!"

"Soldier shmoldier. Get away from her right now, Otohimeno-san!"

"She's a Sailor Senshi and our princess, Ayabumu-sama. I am sworn to protect the princess of Rhea, just as you all are, and I intend to keep doing my duty," announced Mamorinuku.

"The girl's brainwashed him!" cried Ayabumu. "Impressionable kid ... should've been sent to the juniors. Weapons on safety, men. Otohimeno-san does have great potential, age notwithstanding, and we want to remove the Princess' influence if at all possible. If you shoot and hit him, you will pay the price."

"I'm glad to hear that," said Mamorinuku dryly. "It's always nice to get positive feedback from one's commander."

"We've got to get out of here," said Rhea. "Without hurting any of them. It doesn't matter if they're misled into being traitors, they're still just innocent humans."

"If I remember my teaching correctly ..." Mamorinuku thought back to the days he had been taught about the Sailor Soldiers' powers. "... you have the ability to teleport. Try it now."

"Right." Sailor Rhea concentrated, trying to work out how to teleport.

"Focus my power ... how do I do that?" she muttered to herself. "With words ... call out the focus ... Rhea Crystal Power, teleport ... RHEA CRYSTAL POWER, TELEPORT!"

In a flash of gray bunnies, the two were gone.

 _where am i?_ thought Sailor Rhea through a vacuum of nothingness.

 _we're not in normal space,_ came Mamorinuku's thought in reply.

_i should have thought of a place to teleport. so we've ended up here. what now?_

_focus on a place to teleport,_ directed Mamorinuku.

_where?_

_rhea's other moon. it'll be a good hiding place. there are still oxygenated domes left there from the colony attempt._

_right. rhea crystal power teleport!_ Sailor Rhea concentrated on the other moon of her home planet, and in a flash they were back in normal space.

* * *

Ryn and Kichou landed on that same moon with their final loads - including Helenity and Ursula - a few minutes before Sailor Rhea met Mamorinuku. The last few citizens stepped out of the spaceplanes and thanked the spacers, then headed off to find their friends and families.

While tinkering around in her spaceplane's engine, Ryn's sight was suddenly clouded by a flash of gray, and began choking on the dust that suddenly filled the air. She whirled around and had a lethal-looking gun aimed at the two people who now stood near the plane in a matter of seconds.

One of the intruders was a young man in his mid-teens, wearing a soldier's uniform with tousled light brown hair. The other had pink hair in a strange style, like rabbit ears, and wore an outfit of white and pink with a short skirt and tall boots.

"We made it!" exclaimed the pink-haired girl. "At least, I think we made it. Are we on Rhea's second moon?" she asked Ryn, then shut her mouth as she noticed the gun.

"Who are you and how did you get here?" demanded Ryn in a steady yet threatening voice.

"I'm Sailor Rhea, Sailor Senshi of planet Rhea. Also, I'm Princess Rose of Rhea. This is a member of the Guard of Rhea's first moon, Otohimeno Mamorinuku-san."

Princess Helenity, having overheard the commotion, approached Ryn's spaceplane. "What's going on over here?" she asked. Then: "Rose-hime? What on Hestia - excuse me - well, what are you doing here?"

Sailor Rhea was about to reply when the Star Crystal on her chest began to flash and glow. A beam of light shot from it, hitting Helenity's forehead and forming a turquoise symbol of flame.

"What's happening?" asked Helenity shakily, freezing in place.

"Ohmigosh!" exclaimed Sailor Rhea. "You're ... you're ..." She paused and started digging in the backpack which she still held on to, coming up with a piece of the Star Crystal and handing it to Helenity. "Hold this up and say ... ummmm ... I'm not sure what you should say ..."

"All right ..." The symbol on the Hestian princess' forehead glowed white as she touched the fragment of the Star Crystal. She didn't need Sailor Rhea to tell her what to say - the words came to her with astonishing clarity. She would say them. She had to say them.

"Hestia Crystal Power, MAKE UP!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gratuitous Japanese:  
> "hai" (yes)  
> "oto hime no mamorinuku" (protector of the youngest princess) (subtle!)
> 
> Mary Sue Checklist for Ryn:  
> (x) Also awesome at management. And haggling!  
> (x) Has it come up that she's 15 yet? Because, yeah. She's 15.


	4. Part Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which we meet the first of evil queen's generals, who are mostly there because you gotta have generals.

"Hestia Crystal Power, Make Up!" The crystal fragment flashed blue...

Blue-white fire enveloped Helenity, flickering around her. She was frightened for a moment, then realized that it wasn't hurting her. In fact, it felt rather nice: burning heat that seemed to kindle a long-stifled fire in her soul. Then her fingers formed the victory V and she was no longer floating in fire, but standing in a teal and green outfit that matched Sailor Rhea's.

"What's going on?" asked Helenity.

"I was right! Helenity-hime of Hestia, you are the Sailor Protector of your planet: Sailor Hestia." Sailor Rhea grinned.

Meanwhile, Ryn lowered her gun. "Did you want to stay with us?" she asked Mamorinuku. "I'm sure we will have room for you."

"I would like that very much," replied the young guard with considerable dignity considering his age. On any other teenager it would have seemed ridiculous; on him it seemed to fit. "But I have an obligation to protect Rose-hime. Will you be sure my room is near hers?"

The spacer nodded. "I think we can arrange that."

* * *

Ursula heard a knock on the wall outside the curtain stretched across the door of her room: a makeshift structure of cardboard and rock (after all, there was no weather on the moon, so houses didn't need to be very sturdy). She stood up gracefully and drew the curtain open. On the other side was Sailor Hestia, grinning like a much younger girl. "Ursula-san, would you like to see my ability?"

"Certainly, Helenity-hime." The Countess followed Sailor Hestia's lead out to a miniature outcrop of rock, far from the residential section of the lunarglass domes. A pile of scraps of silver and gray metal lay there, next to a smaller pile of twisted black fragments; Sailor Rhea was sitting nearby, examining a burned scrap.

"These are from the remains of my escape capsule," explained Sailor Hestia. "Watch." She folded her hands together and extended the index fingers, pointing at the pile of unheated scraps. "Hopeful Blaze!" As Ursula watched in amazement, a blue-white spark on the princess's fingertips became a flame and then a blazing blue fire, shooting out at the metal and heating it so intensely that the pieces twisted and writhed with the heat.

"That's ... that's incredible, Helenity-hime," murmured Ursula. "You could ..." She glanced over at Sailor Rhea, then moved a bit closer to keep the younger princess out of earshot. "You could destroy a fighter plane. They're not made of tougher stuff than Hestian escape capsules."

Helenity nodded and brushed a lock of coarse turquoise hair out of her face. "I was thinking of that too," she replied in a low voice. "But of course, I can't fly - I'd need a plane of my own ... Ryn-san was lucky, she managed to keep her plane ..."

* * *

As the night on Rhea's moon (a curious night, considering it was never really dark and the day was half as long as the Standard day) darkened, so did the eyes of Kiraino Ouhi as she surveyed her generals. Three were standing respectfully back in the shadows while one knelt in front of her. The kneeling one had red hair in an elaborate bun-and-loop design and pale freckled skin, and draped around her head and at the belt of her drab navy suit hung bits of glittering metal. When she walked, she sounded like a set of wind chimes.

"Hajimeha-san," said Lady Akui. "I am sending you to search out the colony of Chronosians and look for one with power that could be Sailor Chronos. Don't fail or ... or I'm not sure what I'll do, but it'll be very painful."

"Stand down, Akui-san," said Kiraino. "You are out of place."

"Don't order me around, Kiraino- _sama_ ," countered Akui with sarcastic emphasis on the suffix. "I'll do as I please."

"Hajimeha-san, you will follow my orders," commanded Kiraino, ignoring Akui. But once the lady left in a huff, it became clear to Hajimeha that Kiraino's orders were the same as the ones Akui had just given. The general nodded and accepted the orders anyhow; irritating the Queen of Hate was never a good idea.

"As to that pilot," the Queen added as her general was about to leave. "She's eluded Akui once and myself twice, along with several thousand people, and one of my youma has informed me that she has an inner power of her own which is similar to that of a Sailor Senshi. Power or not, she's proved herself clever and determined. If you can find her, eliminate her for me, all right?"

"Yes, my Queen." Hajimeha turned and held up her hand. A swirl of red and white pellets flew forth from it, making a circle in front of her which became a portal. She was about to step through it when Kiraino stopped her.

"Do something about those infernal chimes!" the Queen of Hate hissed. "It doesn't matter how stylish you think they are, they're no good for spying!"

"I will." With that the first general vanished through her portal.

* * *

Ryn was taking her customary early morning bicycle ride. Bicycles had been the most popular mode of land-based transportation among spacers at the Academy, and Ryn had found that they were very good for thinking on. They were also much faster than traveling on foot, and speed was a thing that Ryn had always found to be a good asset - even if they were in an enclosed space not more than a few miles across.

Hajimeha stepped through her red-and-white portal and drew a hand over her hair. The red locks and metal chimes were frosted over with something white and fluffy, silencing them.

As she walked over the cratered landscape, following her natural sense of power, she covered the rest of her body with the frost. The more layers enshrouded her, the more her form faded, until she was thoroughly invisible.

Ryn sped along the edge of a fairly deep crater, not thinking to worry about being followed. She didn't need to just then; Kiraino's general was more than half a mile away, and slightly confused. _What on Xyll and all the planets is going on?_ she hissed in her head. _There are at least three people with power here! I can feel two with sailor senshi power - if they've found each other, that's bad. And then there's one other - she's strong, but not in the same way as a sailor - that must be the pilot..._

Ryn was also thinking about senshi, but she was musing on a different problem. _If the Princess Hestia is Sailor Hestia and the Princess Rhea is Sailor Rhea, I suppose the same goes for all the planets,_ she noted, _but then what of Sailor Chronos? The Princess of Chronos likely died in the destruction of the planet - and even if she survives somehow, even if she moved off-planet, would she have any power?_

And this created another problem; Princess Rose had detailed her mother's information to Ryn, and the spacer considered a part of it: _What if we can't find Sailor Chronos? Is it only if five senshi are together that they have power surpassing that of the Star Crystal? If that's so, then we're lost; the Star Crystal on its own couldn't stop Kiraino, so anything less has no chance..._

When Hajimeha came within sight of the spacer, she was elated at how easy her task was proving to be, and decided to put some drama into it. She created a portal encircled by her red and white pellets, with the entrance before her and the exit just above and behind Ryn, and jumped through; then became visible at the exact moment as when she exited the portal.

She hadn't counted on the spacer's reflexes - Ryn swerved abruptly, kept her balance, and, as Hajimeha grabbed the end of the bike, continued to swerve crazily in a path that would throw off any lesser rider. At the same time she pulled a switchblade from its sheath at the side of one zippered boot and flicked it open. Holding it to Hajimeha's fingers, the spacer snapped, "Who are you?"

However, Hajimeha hadn't gotten to her position without developing some creativity in dealing with tough adversaries. She created a swirl of red and white pellets which formed another portal right in front of her, then let go of the bike, fell through, and came out of the corresponding portal, which was just over Ryn's head. Not even the highly agile spacer could evade this, and she lost her balance at last. The bike fell on its side.

Grabbing hold of Ryn's scalp with one hand, Hajimeha began draining the spacer's energy faster than she'd ever drained anyone's. As her muscles relaxed, Ryn involuntarily dropped the blade, but continued to glare murderously at the general.

"To answer your question," snarled Hajimeha, "I am Hajimeha of the Dark Kingdom, loyal servant of Kiraino Ouhi and your assigned executioner. I also am not fond of being sent down to any human place, be it a planet or a satellite, to do a youma's job. Therefore I'm going to leave you on Banjin and let the savages kill you." She smirked as Ryn lost consciousness.

Using the energy stolen from the spacer, Hajimeha created another portal and tossed her victim through it. This portal's other end opened onto the grass of Banjin, a massive island (comparable in size to Greenland) on the surface of Rhea.

Why Hajimeha didn't just dump Ryn out in the middle of space we may never know.

* * *

_It seemed to Ryn that she was part of another mind - that of a young child. She could only vaguely tell what the child was seeing and feeling; the perceptions were secondhand and not that great to begin with._

_The child's mind was happy; she laughed as she rode along in the child seat of a bicycle. Ryn saw the exposed power line in the road ahead, and tried to shout a warning, but she couldn't use the child's mouth, and the child ignored her._

_Then electricity was shooting through the biker, and the child whose eyes Ryn was seeing through was screaming, and the bike swerved, and the child seat, safe behind a coat of rubber, fell to the ground._

_And now the scene grew blurry: the child was crying._

_Ryn reached out to help, but she was in her own body now, being flung away from the ruins of her planet. "I only wanted to protect you," she called, but her voice couldn't reach past her lips and teeth. A power line wrapped around the planet, crushing it, with the face of Kiraino Ouhi._

_Ryn's eyes failed her, and all was darkness..._

* * *

When Ryn's eyes next opened, there was a furry face looking into hers.

* * *

"She's gone?" shrieked Rose.

"Well, she goes out for a ride every morning, but it's almost noon and she's not back," said Kichou. "I don't think she's on the moon. But her plane's still here - I can't figure what's happened ..."

Helenity and Ursula nodded soberly. The four had met in the countess' room at Kichou's request. Now they stood to leave - but were stopped when Moonie rushed through the makeshift door.

"I found Ryn-sama's bike!" she cried excitedly. "It was on its side, so something _must_ have happened to her, because Ryn-sama _doesn't_ fall over or leave her bike places!" The others didn't waste time questioning the validity of the child's idolization of the pilot; they simply nodded. "Show us where," directed Helenity, and they followed where Moonie led.

After ten minutes of running, the group came to the edge of a largish crater where a familiar plum and white bicycle lay. "That's definitely Ryn's," Kichou confirmed. "But what could have happened to her?..."

Suddenly Helenity screamed as a stream of fast-moving red and white pellets whacked her in the ribs, knocking her to the side. "What was that?!"

"Me," said Hajimeha, becoming visible. "Two princesses, a countess, and a brat. What a catch."

Rose knew exactly what she had to do - the henshin was as familiar to her now as breathing. "Rhea Crystal Power, Make Up!"

Helenity followed suit after only a moment of hesitation. "Hestia Crystal Power, Make Up!"

White fire and pink ribbons transformed the princesses into Sailor Senshi. The general gasped. "You're the sailor senshi here, then!" _Can I fight them, or would Kiraino berate me for that? But if I kill one ..._ Her pretty features twisted into a smirk. "You may have pretty short skirts, but can you fight?"

"Hopeful Blaze!"

"Dust Bunnies Hop!"

Hajimeha shrieked as she was burned and battered. _The others will tease me for chickening out, but I can say I was following Kiraino-sama's orders._ "I'll be back for you brats!" she yelled before creating a portal. "I ought to dump you on Banjin with that spacer girl!" She jumped through the portal and vanished.

The moment the portal was closed, Sailor Rhea smiled. "Now we know where Ryn is! We can teleport there and bring her back." She looked at Sailor Hestia's grim face. "What's wrong?"

"Didn't you hear what that woman said?"

"Yeah. A 'spacer girl', has to be Ryn, is on Banjin."

"Exactly."

"What's wrong with Banjin?" asked Moonie, who had watched the senshi attack with awe. She knew all about Sailor Senshi - they were popular heroines for young Chronosian girls - and to see them in action was a dream come true.

"Banjin Island, on planet Rhea. It's home to savage humanlike creatures. Don't you study geography on your planet?"

"We do," said Sailor Rhea. "I never learned about Banjin, though." She wondered briefly about that - why would a princess of Rhea know less about her own planet than a Hestian? - but shook it off. "Well then, we need to teleport there right away; Ryn might be fighting for her life right now! Ursula-san, don't tell anyone where we are unless they ask," she directed.

The countess nodded. "Moonie-chan, come along now," she directed. "You don't want to get caught in the teleport." Moonie nodded and scurried over to her, then they turned to watch Sailors Rhea and Hestia.

"Now Helenity-hime," directed Sailor Rhea, "take my hand. Shout your henshin phrase, with the word 'teleport' in place of the 'make up', and think of Banjin. The Sailor Teleport will take us there."

"Gotcha. Hestia Crystal Power, Teleport!"

"Rhea Crystal Power, Teleport!"

In a flash of light they were gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gratuitous Japanese:  
> "hajimeha" (first of all) (...creative.)  
> "banjin" (savage)
> 
> Mary Sue checklist for Ryn:  
> (x) Bad guys are specifically looking for her, due to Mysterious Inner Power  
> (x) Her bicycle is evidently more important than the extra refugees who would've fit in her craft if she'd chucked it at the start


	5. Part Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which out of nowhere a colonialism metaphor appears, with a lot more Unfortunate Implications than I realized at the time. Also, apparently one of the generals was recruited with the promise of an OCD cure? (I'm sensing some influence from K. A. Applegate's Everworld series in this one.)

In a flash of light two Sailor Senshi appeared in midair a few centimeters above the Banjin grass. They hung in the air for a moment, then tumbled to the ground. Sailor Rhea was inwardly grateful that they'd landed on the grass, rather than the rocks or trees that lay scattered placidly about the landscape.

Sailor Hestia got up quickly. "If Ryn's here, it'll be a job finding her," she said grimly. "This island is huge..."

A humorless laugh sounded from nearby, and as Sailor Hestia pulled Sailor Rhea to her feet, they both caught sight of a familiar chocolate color in one of the short trees. Ryn jumped down out of it. "Let me reassure you, it won't take nearly as long as you think," she told them.

"But - the island - savages..." stuttered Rhea.

Ryn folded her arms contemptuously. "That's a myth, Rose-hime. A myth developed from Rhea's second sentient race, the eimei. They're humanoid but smaller, and more simian. When humans colonized Rhea they nearly exterminated the eimei."

"And why doesn't the rest of the stellar system know this?" asked Sailor Hestia curiously, and a bit suspiciously.

"I met them for the first time today. The ones I met explained that they avoid humans - for the same reason that we avoid Kiraino Ouhi." The mention of the Queen of Hate's name silenced both sailors.

"Well...are you ready to go home?" queried a hesitant Sailor Rhea. Suddenly she whirled around - she'd caught a flash of movement in a tree at her side. But there was nothing there.

Ryn nodded, striding over to them "I am. Why do you look so frightened? That was an eimei you just saw."

Sailor Hestia followed Rhea's gaze, and could see a furry face among the tree branches. But Ryn was apparently right - the large eyes set in the face were wide and curious, not malicious at all. If they were as cruel and stupid as her lessons had claimed, then they would have attacked. "I see. The others will be worrying about us - let's get back to the moon." She nodded to Rhea. "Hestia Crystal Power, Teleport!"

"Rhea Crystal Power, Teleport!"

Hestia could feel the power flowing through her and, in some strange, unreal way, could sense their movement. She sensed Ryn with her - not beside, behind, before, below, or above her, but with her all the same. Sailor Rhea was also with her. She and Rhea were pulling themselves and Ryn, and the feeling was like walking through molasses but moving at an incredible speed all the same.

Suddenly she realized something was wrong.

The power she felt was flagging; their 'speed' was slowing. She had changed nothing, but Rhea's power had decreased alarmingly. The girl was no longer pulling Ryn, and her companion could feel that that she was struggling to pull herself. Hestia poured her power into the teleport - she could almost feel how close their destination was, but they weren't going to make it -

And then, all of a sudden, Ryn was reaching out to Rose, keeping the younger girl moving.

They made it.

The trio appeared on Rhea's moon about a hundred feet from the makeshift settlement. Helenity detransformed; she felt a bit drained, but otherwise all right. It was clear that Ryn was just fine. But Rose - Rose had detransformed on her own mid-teleport, and Rose was unconscious.

Ursula and Moonie, as well as Mamorinuku, whom they'd told of the sailors' venture, were with them in an instant. "You're all okay?" the Countess asked urgently. "What's happened to Rose-hime?"

"I don't know," Helenity admitted as Mamorinuku picked up the unconscious princess. "I felt her falter during the teleport..."

"Of course!" Mamorinuku looked like he would have slapped his forehead if his arms weren't occupied carrying Rose. "She teleported herself and me yesterday, and today she tried to do two teleports! They must be exhausting beyond belief."

Moonie offered Helenity her shoulder to lean on, which the princess gladly accepted, but Ryn had a look on her face that made Ursula decide (wisely) not to try to help her. "She should be all right, then," the spacer said, meaning Rose. "What happened to my bike?"

"Oh - none of us thought to carry it back - it's still where that strange woman attacked you," said the Countess apologetically. Ryn nodded curtly and, turning, strode off in that direction.

Helenity moved closer to Mamorinuku, and beckoned Ursula over as well. "I didn't tell you when Ryn-san was here," she murmured, "but she has some kind of power too - not that of a Sailor Soldier, or Rose would've picked it up like she did with me; but something. She helped with the teleport. If not for her, we probably wouldn't've made it."

They continued towards Rose's home in silence, but Moonie paused to look back after the pilot's retreating figure in wonder. _She's not a Sailor Senshi, but she has spiffy powers too...that's just so cool!_

* * *

Since the beginning of her existence, Metallia had preferred to work through a medium of sorts rather than do the dirty work herself. Another tradition related to her attacks on stellar systems was that her medium - Kiraino Ouhi in the Xyll case - have four head minions, also known as generals or kings. Many years after Xyll's fall, Beryl would call them Kings. Kiraino preferred the term Generals.

Beryl would choose the guardians of her all-time crush Prince Endymion to serve her. Kiraino was less systematic in her choosing. She had found a vain woman and promised her beauty, an angry man and promised him victims, an obsessive-compulsive and promised her mental relief, and a helpless woman and promised her power. She had chosen those with a spark of evil within, a spark which she could feed until it blazed into a raging fire.

And she had chosen well. Her four generals served her loyally and could handle the power that the position entitled them to.

There was one, however, whom Kiraino had picked but been unable to use. His spark was not of evil, as she had first thought. He lay in a stasis box in the storage room of the mother ship, aging but not thinking. He had been there for almost a year.

Kiraino had not promised him beauty, victims, thinness, or power. She had promised him the love of the girl he secretly adored. A man in love is truly a fool, for he accepted. Kiraino had promised her other four potential generals things she could easily give. She had taken this man unsure of whether his spark was evil or love for the girl.

Now why do you suppose she did that?

The girl he had loved from afar was Florenity, princess of planet Dido. Her best friend was Jennifity, princess of Antigone. Lady Akui still had Jennifity inside her. Kiraino had chosen to lead the attack on Dido for two reasons. The first one was to keep Florenity away from Akui. The second was because she wanted to kill Florenity herself.

Now why do you suppose she wanted that?

* * *

Geode had lived on Chronos all his life. He had had a wife, a daughter, and a job designing interplanetary transports that held few people. He lost all three of those things when Chronos exploded.

It was a small comfort that he had gotten one of them back. While no one can come back from the dead, Geode had been assigned by Countess Ursula to renovate Kichou's spaceplane (with her permission, of course) so that it would hold a dozen people comfortably. It was a good distraction for Geode, and he threw his whole being into the job.

Incorporating one of the O2 generators Ryn had purchased into the ship's original ventilation system, Geode tested different types of figures, force field generator configurations, methods of propulsion, materials, and arrangements of the components necessary.

A week after the Banjin incident, the plane had enough passenger space to store eight people with plenty of breathing space - with no loss of aerodynamics. The Countess congratulated Geode and went to find the passengers and tell them what was planned.

"We're going _back_ to Hestia?" demanded Rose when she heard. She and Rose were the last people Ursula found; they'd been in Rose's room talking.

"Well, we _are_ Sailor Senshi," Helenity pointed out. "We need to get Kiraino's forces off that planet; it's the perfect base of operations for her. She can't be allowed to have that advantage."

"Besides," Ursula chimed in, "Otohimeno-san, Ryn-sama, Kichou-san, Geode-san, and I will all be accompanying you."

Rose nodded. "I know - but - are you sure that's such a tactical advantage for her, Helenity-san? After all, Hestia is on the other side of Xyll right now; it's furthest from the rest of the planets."

The other princess gave her a quelling look. "Rose-chan. Don't you see? It's _my_ planet." Rose quieted and nodded thoughtfully, avoiding Helenity's eyes.

* * *

It seemed all too soon to Rose when the next day came and the plane was prepared to take off. And yet there was no denying that they were ready - the hold was stocked with nonperishable food (between them, Ryn and Kichou had supplied the colony with food from Rheaite shopping trips), they had plenty of clothing stocked, the floor of the now-huge passenger area was lined with furs and had seven sleeping bags of just the right size, and their few possessions were all loaded nicely, including Rose's pink backpack.

A massive amount of Chronosians gathered outside of the lunarglass dome's massive airlock to watch them take off. There weren't any windows in the passenger area, so neither group could see the other, but the audience waved and shouted their goodbyes anyhow.

Kichou was flying the first shift; she and Ryn would alternate during the thirty-hour flight. (Under normal circumstances Rhea/Hestia flights would occur when the planets were as close as possible, reducing the flight to only a few hours, but these circumstances were anything but normal.)

Ryn was currently in the copilot's seat, but would retire to the hold after they were out of Rhea's airspace for a catnap. She didn't know that Helenity was sitting there aching to sit at the controls of a plane again.

Kichou eased her spaceplane into the airlock and waited for it to seal behind her. "Are we ready now? Shall I go?" the pilot asked warily.

 _I'll have to get Kichou-san to think for herself more,_ mused Ryn. _She depends on me too much._ Out loud she said, "You're the pilot here, aren't you?" Kichou nodded and accelerated out of the airlock.

It wasn't long before Ryn retired to the passenger area and stretched out in her sleeping bag. Not much was going on: Rose was reading something; Helenity was sitting stolidly against the side of the plane, looking frustrated; Mamorinuku was deep in thought, judging by the look on his face; and Ursula and Geode were poring over a book and discussing something in hushed voices.

Ryn wondered fleetingly if Moonie had managed to get a position at the front of the crowd to wave goodbye. She probably had; the girl had spunk, there was no doubt about that. The pilot had time for no more wondering; she dropped off to sleep within moments.

* * *

The lights were lowered and the passengers asleep; it had been eight hours since the flight started. Helenity wasn't asleep, though. She had been woken up by Ryn and Kichou changing shifts after six hours, and hadn't been able to fall back asleep.

Helenity rolled over - and realized that she wasn't the only one awake. Rose's shoulders were tense and shaking. Reaching over to the younger princess, Helenity put a hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong?" she asked quietly.

Rose rolled over to face Helenity, and her eyes were full of tears. The teal-haired princess realized that the tenseness of the shoulders was from how tightly Rose was clutching a rag doll. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Helenity waited a few moments, and Rose tried again to speak. "M-my Mama," she began, voice choked with tears even in a whisper. "Sh-she had to break the Star Crystal, she _had_ to, so we could transf-form, so we could be more p-p-powerful ..." The princess of Rhea gulped. "But...th-they thought she was evil..."

Helenity sat up and wrapped her arms around Rose, cradling her in her lap. "Relax," she said soothingly, "and tell me slowly. Who thought your mother was evil?"

"There are always people who can tell .. .if something h-happens to the Star Cr-cr-crystal. They knew it was smashed and thought ... and thought ... Mama had smashed it t-to help Kiraino. They didn't know. They k-k-k-" Her words dissolved into a fresh wave of tears.

Helenity had never babysat or indeed come in contact with many younger children. Princesses led very sheltered lives on Hestia. However, some maternal instinct awakened in her as she comforted Rose. Words came to her mind, a soft lullaby tune accompanying them.

 _Don't ask of me to tell you where I'm from._   
_Don't bury me in this wound._

 _Don't bury me in the lost yesterdays._   
_Don't stop me any further._

 _Even now in my heart sleeps my dream_   
_that like a storm is still raging but_   
_I turn my back and within a blink_   
_like a teardrop it breaks into pieces._

 _From that day onward I made a choice to fight day by day._   
_I want to become the wind_   
_I want to become the wind_

 _Don't blame me even if I'm not kind._   
_Don't cry for me this heart of mine._

 _Gracefully blooming, a free-loving flower_   
_whose day of a kiss is still far away._   
_Everyone has a dream in a world they see_   
_and using this body I promise to protect..._

 _From that day onward it's a long and distant road as a fighter._   
_I want to become the wind_   
_I want to become the wind_

 _I want to become the wind_   
_I want to become the wind..._

Rose was asleep. Helenity gently eased her into her sleeping bag and tucked the doll into her still tightly folded arms. "Those doubting men and women killed your mother," she whispered. "It must have been awful...." _And here I've been moping because I haven't flown a plane in so long._ She knew that the queen of Rhea had been much closer to her daughter than the queen of Hestia - Helenity's mother was also dead, but they'd hardly known each other.

The princess returned to her sleeping bag and fell asleep quickly now, lulled by her own lullaby. Her dreams were of her parents, but they were peaceful: like childhood memories that she might have had if she were anyone other than a princess.

* * *

Lady Akui's dreams were not peaceful.

For the past week her dreams had been assaulted by jumbled images. Images of her exasperated teachers and her past. Images of the present, where Kiraino had taken the job she had wished for: the assault on Dido. Rhea was doing a fine job of destroying itself without its queen, and a few of the generals had made the palace on Hestia their base camp. But the images that frightened Akui were those of a woman in a sailor fuku of yellow and sky-blue.

It wasn't a particularly frightening woman, except for the fact that her face looked just like Akui's.

The Lady of Malice woke up sweating. "Thank goodness it's only a dream," she whispered...until she saw the woman in front of her.

It wasn't the senshi from her dreams. Rather, it was a senshi whom everyone had heard of, whether in detail or only in a half-remembered story from a long ago childhood. Of course, they could never forget her, for she was Sailor Mnemosyne, Senshi of Memory.

Sailor Mnemosyne was robed in her trademark swishy pink sundress. Her pink hair was done in four lovely tails that twirled their way to her waist. She wore a pink sailor collar, pink sandals, and a few other pink accessories.

"What are you doing here?" Akui asked in a terrified whisper.

"Don't be frightened," said Sailor Mnemosyne. "This is still a dream. My body is in the grip of Chaos, don't you remember?" She let out a giggle at her pun on memory. "I am not here to hurt you. I am only here to help you remember."

Beside her suddenly stood her twin, Sailor Lethe, who wore an identical outfit in dark green and pink hair bound with ringlets. "I can help you forget," she added. "I can give you sweet oblivion. However, my sister must go first."

Sailor Mnemosyne stepped forward, and Akui's memory returned in full.

Kiraino wanted to destroy her kingdom. Akui/Jennifity didn't want it, but she didn't want it destroyed.   
Kiraino was evil. She'd learned that long ago.   
Kiraino was going to destroy Dido. Akui/Jennifity had been sent to Dido long ago, to meet its princess in order to 'establish proper political relations.' Jennifity/Akui had become friends with the princess.   
Kiraino was going to kill the princess of Dido, Jennifity/Akui's best friend.   
Kiraino was wrong!

Now Sailor Lethe spoke again, this time to a woman/girl who was Jennifity one moment and Akui the next. "I can give Akui oblivion, or I can give Jennifity oblivion. One or the other. Which will you lose?"

Jennifity/Akui made her decision easily. "Lady Akui."

Sailor Lethe stepped forward, and the shifting body and mind settled on those of Princess Jennifity, heir to the throne of planet Antigone.

* * *

In Rose's backpack tucked in her sleeping bag something glowed gold through the cloth for a moment, then was snuffed out.

* * *

Sailor Lethe and Sailor Mnemosyne vanished, and Jennifity woke up, this time for real.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Helenity's lullaby is [Sailor Uranus' image song, Kaze ni Naritai](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IOsSMoy0WY) (I Want To Become The Wind).
> 
> The eimei...will never appear in the story again. Our human heroes don't try to contact them, even to apologize; they don't assist in the battle to save the system; not one of them ever gets a speaking part. But hey, someone from the colonizing society mentioned that colonialism is wrong! As a white kid in the American school system, I was taught that that would settle the issue.
> 
> At least this was originally meant to lay groundwork for the eimei to have a greater role later? In the Sequel That Never Happened, one of them is the next to take on the mantle of Sailor Rhea. There are some remnants of this in the early artwork (see [the series index](http://ptahrrific.dreamwidth.org/168460.html) for links).
> 
> Mary Sue checklist for Ryn:  
> (x) Delivers a lecture on the evils of colonialism (and isn't one of the colonized people, either)  
> (x) In-universe fangirls emphasize how cool she is, just in case you didn't get it from the narrative


	6. Part Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which lampshades are hung, rabbits are called smeerps, and alcoholism is also bad, folks.

Most of us, faced with the problem of waking up in a bed on an alien ship controlled by a sadistic woman and saturated with officers who served the Evil One, would be consumed by a powerful desire to whimper. Jennifity was confident that she could handle it - after all, she still had the memories of Akui.

Normally this would not have been a plus; Akui, like Kiraino, took joy in killing. She loved to savor the fear of her victims before destroying them. Those memories were a part of Jennifity now, as though they were hers.

Although was disturbing to realize that she remembered _herself_ drinking in fear like a cold lemonade on a hot day, the princess also remembered her way around Kiraino's ship.

Jennifity sat up and looked down at herself. _That_ was when she wanted to whimper.

Akui's mind and body were different from Jennifity's. When Akui's mind had been given oblivion, so had her older body. This left Jennifity to her own body, which was distinctly NOT Akui's; she was a decade younger now, and it showed. Hajimeha chose this moment to walk in.

Both froze in fear, then Hajimeha jumped and hit the alarm bell on the wall with a well-placed kick. Jennifity jumped up and turned the alarm off, then grabbed Hajimeha's arm and yanked the door shut. "Not a word!"

"There's nothing you can do to me," snapped Hajimeha. "Akui hardly had any powers; you certainly don't have any, although I can't imagine how you got your self back...." She shook off Jennifity, pushing her to the ground roughly.

That was when the pink crystal, glowing a bright, pure gold, materialized in front of her.

Without thinking, the princess grabbed it and yelled, "Antigone Crystal Power, Make Up!"

Lovely, warm energy rushed over Jennifity. Her body was encased in crystal but it was a comforting feeling, not at all claustrophobic. Then she was in the sailor fuku from Akui's dream: yellow with sky-blue ribbons. The crystal was nestled snugly in the button on her front bow.

Hajimeha's eyes widened in fear as Sailor Antigone appeared before her. She turned to run, but Antigone summoned her power and shouted, "Gem Encrustation!" A shifting, fluid sphere of gold rock appeared in her hand, and as she hurled it forward it flowed into a stream of rock which completely encased Hajimeha. as it enlarged. Golden gems flew forward, completely encasing Hajimeha.

The trouble with being evil is that you usually lose, obsessive-compulsive or not.

By now the youma who had heard the alarm were outside the room, pounding at the door. The door gave one final shudder before it caved in completely, allowing youma to pour into the room. The gems that were strong enough to trap Hajimeha were not easy to generate, and when Antigone shouted "Gem Encrustation! Gem Encrustation! Gem Encrustation! Gem Encrustation!" she was producing flimsy crystal casings which the youma took only moments to break through.

As she frantically created more and more short-lived golden gem shields, Antigone thought desperately, _Help! Somebody, anybody, help! I can't do this alone!_

* * *

Ryn's eyes snapped open.

She had no idea what had woken her up. It was Kichou's shift at flying; everyone else was still asleep, and the only sound in the room was soft, even breathing.

Ryn's internal clock kept splendid time. _It's early even for me to be awake. What could have..._

Suddenly she heard a mental scream echoing through her head, a desperate plea: _Help! Somebody, anybody, help! I can't do this alone!_ Ryn could feel that the person was in mortal peril. She thought back to the teleport a week ago, and how she'd pulled Rose along when the young sailor lost her strength. The person whose plea now echoed inside her head needed the same kind of help.

It may have been early, but Ryn was wide awake and perfectly alert. She reached out tentatively to the screamer, trying to give her strength the way she'd strengthened Rose. Then she felt the person in trouble pulling her energy away, as though they had noticed Ryn's presence.

Within moments Ryn felt as exhausted as if she'd just run a marathon. She lost the connection and fell back to sleep in an instant.

* * *

Sailor Antigone felt fresh energy breaking over like a tidal wave. It was so invigorating that she created a massive barrier of crystal, sealing the youma away from her for a few moments, before attempting to focus the newfound strength.

Words filled her mind, and she wondered - where to go? Kiraino would still be in control on Antigone, and her generals were in charge on Hestia, and of course there was nothing left of Chronos. Instead she focused on the image of a town: one that she knew to be on a different planet entirely, which might not be the safest place but was certainly safe for a Sailor Soldier.

"Antigone Crystal Power, Teleport!"

When the youma crashed through the yellow rock shield, she was gone.

* * *

Ryn was woken up again, although this time it was immediately obvious why: the plane had landed. Everyone else had also been awoken; Helenity's first question was, "Are we all right? This isn't Hestia..."

Kichou stepped in from the cockpit. "We're on Dido," she said. Before the others could protest, she continued: "I ran into one of Kiraino's patrol fighters. The redesigned plane doesn't have as many weapons - I managed to cripple the patrol, but we were in no shape to make it all the way to Hestia, so I landed here."

The group immediately flocked to the front so they could get out of the plane. Ryn held Helenity back. "How did you know this wasn't Hestia?" she asked.

"The gravity's wrong," replied the older girl. "Hestia's bigger than Dido and Antigone."

"It's a very slight difference," Ryn said pointedly.

"I've lived on Hestia all my life," Helenity countered. "I ought to know how heavy I feel there."

Ryn shrugged and the two continued out the door after the others.

It was Mamorinuku who first noticed. "Minna-san, look up," he said, pointing. The others raised their eyes to look above them, then noticed the building that must have been half a mile away but still loomed huge on the horizon.

"Is that...?" began Geode in awe.

"I think so," answered Helenity, knowing exactly what Geode was wondering. "We're in the Royal Family's back garden."

* * *

The Royal Family of Dido consisted of the King, who ruled in place of his dead wife and didn't do it especially well; his sister, who had nothing to do with the palace; the Prince, who was a complete brat; and the Princess, who was currently in a very bad mood.

The Princess, whose name was Florenity, stormed through the palace slamming every door she went through. Something her aunt had once told her came to mind, and knowing that her flute needed shining, she stormed off to her private music room and applied her angry energy to that task.

However, the Princess' bad moods were few and far between, and this one passed as quickly as a strong thunderstorm. She glid over to the room she actually slept in and sat down on he bed, looking at the back garden through the window at the head of her bed.

There were people in the garden.

Since the garden was huge, they were too far away to see clearly. Florenity was about to call the guards when she decided that they must be just a bunch of vagabonds who thought her garden looked comfortable. She would take them a basket of food and leave. For good measure she packed the basket with two whole roasted yarrns (a domestic chickenlike bird), several loaves of bread, and a few types of fruits unique to Dido, including fishberries and teggs. The palace cooks were only too happy to oblige.

After lugging the large wicker basket down several flights of stairs and out one of the back doors, Florenity began crossing the yard.

Five minutes later, while Geode and Ryn were working on repairing the damage Kichou's ship had taken and the others were relaxing on the grass, Ursula noticed someone approaching. "Someone's coming this way!" she exclaimed to the others.

"Transform," Rose directed Helenity shortly. "Rhea Crystal Power, Make Up!"

"Hestia Crystal Power, Make Up!" White fire and pink ribbons made Sailor Soldiers from the princesses.

Florenity, who was only half a dozen yards away, stopped. What was going on? These weren't tramps - they were warriors!

Sailor Rhea's hands were on her hairbands in the beginning pose of her attack when she recognized the confused and slightly scared girl in front of her. "Florenity-hime?"

Sailor Hestia's hands lowered from their own attack position as Florenity nodded. "Who are you?" asked the Didoan princess.

"Princess Rose of Rhea." Sailor Rhea also lowered her hands. "This is Helenity of Hestia. We're the Sailor Soldiers for our respective planets."

"You look different. I don't know why, but you do ..." Florenity broke off as a beam of light shot from the crystal on Sailor Rhea's chest to the puzzled princess' forehead. A small symbol appeared there. The pink-haired senshi just stared for a minute, then dove for her bag in the plane.

A moment later she was pressing a piece of the Star Crystal into the extremely befuddled Florenity's hand and saying, "Repeat after me. Dido Crystal Power Make Up."

"Whaaat?"

"No, Dido Crystal Power Make Up."

"Um. Dido Crystal Power ..." She paused, and Rose knew she was feeling that comfortable feeling that the words were _right_. "... Make UP!"

A pillar of purple light washed over Florenity. Inside it she was twirling at high speed while flowers wrapped around her and their petals meshed into a sailor fuku. When the light dissipated she was wearing a pink sailor fuku with black bows.

"Who ... Nani?!?" she exclaimed as she saw her costume.

"You're the pretty sailor soldier of love and justice, Sailor Dido," Hestia explained. "We're Sailor Rhea and Sailor Hestia. Now tell me, how is it that _everybody's_ hair color matches their fuku?"

Sailor Dido shrugged impatiently. "I think the more important question is, WHAT IS GOING ON HERE????"

"Maybe we'd better start from the beginning," said Rose, detransforming. She, Helenity, and Florenity sat down on the platform and the other two began to explain the situation to the eternally confused Florenity, starting with that first attack on Chronos over a month ago.

* * *

When they had finished, the rest of the senshi's companions had opened the basket Florenity had brought and were having part of the contents for breakfast. "So where does that leave me?" Florenity asked.

"It leaves you coming with us to Hestia. If you want," replied Helenity.

"Do I have a choice?"

"Your henshin crystal is a fragment of the Star Crystal, and I don't have to explain _that_ power to you. To get an idea of its real potential: that use of the Star Crystal's full power will kill the user. When all five Sailor Senshi are together and use their power, they will _surpass_ the strength of the Star Crystal without dying. If you don't help, we may not have the strength we need to stop Kiraino," Rose explained.

"So I don't have a choice," laughed Florenity. "I'll come, of course," she added, before the other two princesses could protest. "Can I get some stuff first?"

"You'll be able to come back," Helenity said. "Unlike, say, me."

The violet-haired princess nodded, then paused and stared off into space, trying to remember something. She looked up at the other two sailors. "You know, there's been an unusual amount of strange events at various bars and taverns in the town near here. Father doesn't think it's worth bothering about, just excessive alcoholism, but the hospitals are complaining of people who seem to have their energy just drained away. Does that sound like Kiraino?"

"Her or one of her lackeys." Ryn had walked over and joined in the conversation. Something dangerous flashed in her eyes at the mention of Kiraino. "They need raw energy to power their ships and weapons. Some of them, like the youma, need it to live."

"If there are places that haven't been visited by her yet, they'll probably be soon," Helenity mused, "so that the culprit can get the most energy they can. Florenity? Would you know which places haven't been gotten to yet?"

"No."

"Then we'll just have to use trial and error," Ryn said. "We can go now if you're ready."

"'We'?" repeated Rose.

"Yes, we. I'm coming along."

"But you're not a Sailor Soldier! How will you defend yourself in a fight?"

"Do you know what spacer squads did on Chronos?"

Though she felt it was off the subject, Helenity answered. "They provided quick transport and acted as a sort of elite police force, although the police had precedence over them. They worked as a postal service sometimes, delivering messages and people over interplanetary distances. And they fought in battles, on the ground with their bikes and in the air and space, for the Queen."

"Exactly. In space we fought with the weapons of our planes. But when on the ground," Ryn added, turning to Rose, "we didn't." She pulled something black from her boot with the ease gained by lots of practice and twirled it on her finger.

Rose and Florenity didn't recognize it, but Helenity, former fighter pilot, did immediately. It was a Shocker *86, a type of electric gun capable of delivering a voltage strong enough to kill a grown man. For obvious reasons they had been outlawed on Hestia, but in terms of crime Dido was much less under control. While Shockers were illegal on Dido also, there was a strong black market for them.

Helenity decided not to tell Florenity that. Instead she said, "She can take care of herself," in a final tone.

"We can't teleport; we don't know where we're going, plus we might scare some people. So how will we get to the nearest town?" Rose asked, shifting topic. "Walk?"

"It's good exercise," Helenity said.

"The town isn't too far," added Florenity.

"I don't see why not," Ryn remarked

Rose looked from face to solemn face. "You're kidding. Right?"

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, the four were still walking towards the town. The three Sailor Senshi had transformed, but had assorted coats and jackets on over their sailor fuku. Ryn was walking briskly, just as she had been when they had started off. Sailors Hestia and Dido were slowing down. And Sailor Rhea...

Well, Rose had run from the mob who killed her mother. She had flown from planet to moon to planet. She had saved herself and a man true to her kingdom from death by uninformed unintentional traitors. She had remained a stable rock for others through it all, despite her inner crumbling.

But she was not up to walking two miles.

"I mean, Ryn-sama here can walk like ten miles without stopping. So I get one of the bikes, Helenity-san and Florenity-hime get the other two, and Super-Ryn-sama jogs. That's not so hard, is it?"

"Nor is it hard to walk a mile," Hestia pointed out.

"But I'm exhausted. Drained. Dead on my feet. Completely burned out."

"We're here," Dido said.

"We're what?...oh. We're here."

They looked around the town. For those of you who have never been to planet Dido, I'll tell you that it looks like a cross between a science fiction future town and a stereotypical scene from the American Old West. The modern metal and brick buildings had the doors and signs of a town straight out of a Yosemite Sam cartoon, while the dusty streets were stirred up by the wake of electric hovercars. One large steel building had a sign which read 'Saloon' in large boxy letters.

"That's as good a place as any to start," Sailor Rhea remarked, indicating the saloon.

"I guess," said Sailor Dido. "Our sailor fuku seem to have a built in disguise system, so we won't be easily recognizable. But how will we talk to each other?"

"We can use the names of our planets," Sailor Hestia replied. "Good thinking, Dido. Our actual names anyone would know."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gratuitous Japanese:  
> minna-san (everybody)  
> "nani?" (what?)
> 
> Mary Sue Checklist for Ryn:  
> (x) More mysterious powers!  
> (x) Gets her own illegal taser, on top of all the other weapons she's had.


	7. Part Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which our heroines investigate a wretched hive of scum and villainy. And, apparently, busty waitresses. (Y halo thar, baby!gay self.)

Princess Helenity of Planet Hestia, Princess Florenity of Planet Dido, Princess Rose of Planet Rhea, and Pilot Ryn of Chronos walked into the Didoan saloon. The scene that greeted them could have popped straight out of a play about western America from the 1800s. While the town in general showed many modern facets, the inside of this particular building had nothing remotely technological. It contained a handful of round tables of assorted sizes, a counter with raised stools, a raised corner with a neglected microphone, and a few large and attractive waitresses.

The quartet took seats at the bar. Within a few minutes they had all ordered water except for Sailor Dido, who took tea. "Hele ... Hestia-san, Dido-san, Ryn-sama, be ready for trouble, OK?" asked Sailor Rhea tensely.

"You don't need to remind us," said Dido, sipping her tea and resting her head on her hand with her elbow on the counter. "I can't imagine a fouler place - and on _my_ planet, too ..." She stopped as Ryn tensed.

"Them," said the spacer in a slightly hushed voice, making a quick gesture towards a couple seated a few seats down from them.

"Can't we skip this place, Jinny-chaaan?" pleaded the woman. She had on a distinctive navy uniform trimmed in green and had long blue hair and extremely attractive features - she looked good even with the annoyed pout that she wore at the moment.

"Don't call me that," snapped the man. He had short black hair and wore an identical uniform with red trim, but his eyes were bright red. "And no, if _she_ wants energy from alcoholics, we're giving it to her. Got it?"

"But do we have to wait for the afternoon rush, Jinny-chan? Pleeeease?"

"Stop it, Komodia."

Komodia made puppy eyes.

"Well...if you promise to start calling me Jinan-san..."

"Hai, Jinan-san!"

"Okay. Let's do this now and get it over with." Jinan created a small hole in the air which Ryn recognized as kin to the ones Hajimeha had made, although it was rimmed with red and blue fire. He reached through it and pulled out a gold ring with a black gem on it and handed the ring to Komodia.

Komodia put the ring on her gloved finger and twisted it three times, hissing something in a strange language as she did so. The room became immensely more humid, so that it was difficult for everyone to breathe. Sailor Rhea choked on her water and the quartet gasped for air. Ryn and Sailor Hestia, who were still watching Komodia and Jinan through the fog, saw Komodia hand the ring to Jinan, who repeated her actions with a slightly different hissing pattern.

Waves of energy, not visible or audible but tangible nonetheless, rose up out of the and dozen or so alcoholics that cluttered the tavern. Other than our heroines, a figure alone at a small corner table, and the two Dark Kingdom generals, that amounted to everyone: even the waitresses and bartender collapsed as their energy poured into the ring.

The drain finished and the heavy fog cleared. "They only think it's an effect of the alcohol," Komodia purred, "that's the beauty of the thing. Humans are so silly with their drugs and artificial mood changers ... Hey! Who are you?" she demanded of those still awake.

The game was up; it was time to fight. Yanking off her jacket to reveal the sailor fuku beneath, Rhea cried, "These people are weirdos, but that doesn't mean you can just take their energy, especially for your wicked purposes! I'm a Bishoujo Sailor Senshi who fights for good and right. I'm Sailor Rhea!"

"I'm another Pretty Soldier who hasn't actually done any fighting yet, but I'll get there! I'm Sailor Dido!"

"I like making speeches and I fight on behalf of innocent people who prefer to keep their energy. I'm Sailor Hestia!"

"Blah blah blah. The name's Ryn. The one you sent to Banjin."

"What are Sailor Senshi doing here?" shrieked Komodia. "How?!?" Nobody answered.

"Hopeful Blaze!" shouted Sailor Hestia, sending a jet of fire at Komodia and Jinan. Both leapt back, but neither completely avoided the scorching flames.

"Can I try that?" asked Dido.

"Sure," replied Rhea. "Just concentrate and the words should come to you. Dust Bunnies Hop!"

Dido focused, and a rush of feeling, connection with her element, washed over her. Flowers. Animals. The flora and the fauna.

* * *

When the Xyll System was first colonized, Sailor Senshi were in existence, but no one expected that anyone could tap the power of a planet they had not grown up on. The only sentient creatures in the system were the eimei, then without a name, and they had no notion of the tapping of planet power. The Sailor Wars had not yet begun, however, so Sailor Soldiers were not a necessity for the colonists.

Then a shadow creature from within the as-yet-unnamed planet attacked. According to legend (for none are sure what is fact and what is exaggeration in the poor records of those colonists), a girl named Dido set out to defend her families and friends. Dido struck a deal with the creature: they could have as much of the planet as they could surround with a tauro's hide. The shadow creature even provided the tauro.

Dido then sliced the hide into immeasurably fine threads, which they stretched around a massive patch of territory including ocean and a large chunk of one of the continents. It was then that Dido received the ability to channel that planet's power; that planet became her namesake.

Eventually this sailor destroyed the treacherous shadow creature altogether. Dido's powers were of flowers and animals, the flora and fauna - and it was once considered among the most incredible sailor planet powers in existence, due to its versatility and its sheer strength.

This was of course before Chronos gave his namesake planet's avatar the power of space. Sailor Chronos developed into one of the Great Senshi of the galaxy, along with Pluto, who was actually a descendant of Chronos himself and governed the power of time. Sailor Chronos took the spotlight among the Xyllian soldiers.

Dido's power has dwindled from its original avatar's great ability, and the fuku has changed symbolically over the years. Now it is only the power of flowers, nothing else. But that is quite enough. The power built up in our Sailor Dido.

* * *

The words came to her easily as breathing.

"Flower Hurricane!"

A whirlwind of flowers shot from Dido's outstretched hand and hit Komodia. Jinan gasped, red eyes wide.

"Aim for the ring," Hestia directed, but a hissing sound cut in. Jinan had cast a quick spell which sent red and blue fire at them. Hestia shouted "Hopeful Blaze!" and countered it with a jet of white fire. A stool smoldered in the heat, even though it was a foot or so below the flames.

"Flower Hurricane!" cried Dido, sending more flowers at Komodia. She shrieked and the portal she'd been conjuring, rimmed with dark violet fur, vanished.

The red and blue fire won out, crashing over white and hitting Hestia, who screamed as the heat scorched her fuku and skin. "Creep," murmured Ryn as she pulled out her Shocker, twisted the dial, and fired with perfect aim. Jinan had no time to erect a shield, and screeched in his turn as he was electrocuted with power that would kill an ordinary human.

Sailor Rhea threw a glance at Ryn and noticed the pilot's eyes. They were cold and unfeeling, and sent a chill down the sailor's spine. She turned away quickly to focus on the fight. Jinan was still twitching after Ryn switched off the Shocker. "Come on!" Komodia shrieked, creating another portal. She grabbed Jinan, let out a squeal as a bit of electricity shot through her, and started towards it. "We need to get back to Hestia, you idiot!"

"Impressive," said a voice.

The girls turned to see the figure from the corner table who had not been drinking. She was average height, with frizzy golden hair and purple eyes. A coarse dark brown robe covered her from the shoulders down. She was smiling, but confidently rather than timorously, as though she were proud of them. "Let me show you how I do it."

She turned to the generals. Komodia was gone through the portal but struggling to get Jinan through. He was still twitching and not helping her at all. The stranger held up one hand and shouted, "Gem Encrustation!"

A flood of yellow crystal and rock sped from her palm to encase Jinan. He quit twitching because he couldn't move a millimeter. "That should hold him," the stranger said. "I don't think he can regain his strength because energy can't get through the crystal to revive him, and he isn't strong enough to break it after that shock." Meanwhile, Komodia yanked Jinan's encased body completely through the portal and it vanished.

"Who are you?" asked Sailor Hestia curiously, turning to the stranger. Ryn was not so uncautious - nor so subtle. She aimed the Shocker at the stranger and said firmly, "Tell us who you are."

"Wait..." Sailor Dido was staring very hard at the stranger. More specifically, at the stranger's forehead. A golden tiara rested there, set with a glowing yellow gem. "You're a sailor senshi."

"Hai." The stranger nodded, but she was also staring at Sailor Dido's face. "I know you, don't I?"

"There's a disguise illusion in the sailor fuku," explained Sailor Rhea. "How about if we all detransform? Nobody's around - nobody awake, anyhow."

"How do you detransform?"

"Like this." Sailor Rhea tapped the crystal on her chest once, gently. Sailors Hestia and Dido tapped theirs as well, and their sailor fuku vanished in flashes of white to reveal their civilian clothing. The stranger removed her cloak, revealing a sailor fuku in gold with blue bows. She tapped her pink crystal to reveal -

"Jennifity-chan?" asked Florenity in shock.

"Florenity-chan? You're a Sailor Soldier?"

"What's going on?" asked Helenity.

"I thought Kiraino had captured you," Rose said in confusion. "Wasn't that you attacking the Antigone colony?"

"Yes and no," Jennifity confessed. "It was an entity called Lady Akui, who has a different mind and body from me, but I was there, just not in control."

"So how did you get control back?" queried Ryn, raising an eyebrow.

"It's ... a long story. The short version is that Akui is dead now. She and I aren't really the same person."

Ryn nodded and lowered her gun.

"Welcome to the team!" said Rose. She looked around suddenly as a moan from one of the waking people caught her attention. "We should go."

"Can we teleport?" asked Jennifity.

"Certainly," said Ryn to the surprise of all. "All of you together should have the energy to get us all back to the plane. Helenity and Florenity can provide the image of the place, and Jennifity adds the power we need to move all of us. It should work out."

* * *

"Komodia and Helia are on Hestia," Jennifity explained. "They're the two of Kiraino's generals remaining; I trapped Hajimeha in my crystal." She was detailing to the sailors and their companions everything she had known from her time as Lady Akui. "I didn't know about the plan to take alcoholics' energy; Akui was occupied with the attack on Antigone." She finished and looked over at Geode, who had just closed a panel on the spaceplane.

"This plane's fixed," the technician announced. "We can leave here at any time, and we'll make it to Hestia."

"Then let's get started!" Helenity said cheerily. One by one they boarded the plane, and Ryn, who was last, shut the door behind her.

Suddenly a pounding sound echoed through the interior of the plane, as if someone were banging on the door. All the princesses whirled around and grabbed their henshin crystals; Ryn turned slowly and deliberately and reached out to pull the door open, ready for just about anyone except the person who was there.

"Moonie-chan? What are you doing here?"

* * *

"There doesn't seem to be any way to break this crystal," the woman said thoughtfully. She had glossy hair of that shade which is sometimes called sea foam green, wore a green-trimmed uniform. and had eyes of a green so light that it was nearly white. She was of average height and a very slight build.

"There has to be!" cried Komodia in distress. "Please, Halia-san, there must be something you haven't tried!"

The woman groaned. "Komodia-san, why Kiraino-sama chose you to be one of her generals I will never know. No, Jinan-san is firmly stuck in there."

"Oh no! How am I going to explain this to Kiraino-sama?"

A loud, angry voice echoed down the corridors. "KOMODIA! JINAN! REPORT TO ME IMMEDIATELY!"

"You'd better think of something," Halia said as Komodia shuddered, terrified. "I'm a technician, not a liar."

* * *

"I - I just wanted to come with you," Moonie whispered/squeaked. "I..."

"Get in," snapped Ryn. "I don't know where you stowed away, or why you decided to try to come - you _knew_ where we were going - but it was a childish and stupid idea."

As a terrified Moonie scrambled in, Jennifity asked tentatively, "We could teleport her back, couldn't we?"

"No," replied Rose sadly, "Helenity and I've teleported too much recently to be strong enough, and you and Florenity don't know the way."

"So we're stuck with you," Ryn said irritatedly to the child. "Of all the thoughtless, baka, childish, unhelpful..."

Moonie burst into tears. Heedless of what Ryn might say, Helenity, who was in front of all the non-senshi and Florenity, pushed past Rose, Jennifity, and Ryn, then enfolded the child in her arms. "It's okay, Moonie-chan, we'll protect you. You shouldn't have come, but we can manage."

"D-d-does R-ryn-s-sama hate m-me?" Moonie choked out, clutching Helenity's shirt with trembling hands.

Ryn rolled her eyes. "No, I don't hate you. I'm as angry as I've ever been, but I don't hate you." And the former member of the Hestian Alpha squad realized that Ryn was serious: the Chronosian spacer had never been more angry at one of the pilots under her control than she was now at this little girl.

"I just wanted to be with you, Ryn-sama," sniffled Moonie.

"And now you are," Ryn replied shortly, closing the door for good this time. "Prepare for takeoff, everyone." The non-pilots and Kichou headed for the passenger area, and Ryn strode into the cockpit. Within moments the repaired spaceplane was out of the atmosphere, on a course for Hestia.

* * *

In the cockpit, Ryn began experimenting with the radio setup. They were too far from any planet to pick up intraplanet stations, and she doubted any of the interplanet networks were in top condition - not that there were many. She caught a thread of chatter from XIPN (Xyll InterPlanetary News) and began attempting to tune in on that station.

_"*crackle*andinthelatest*buzz*Ouhiapproaching*sputter*..."_

And then suddenly the signal came through, quiet but clear.

_"We've lost all contact with Hestia and satellite data suggests there is nobody left alive ... Kiraino's forces have taken the palace and are not responding to hails ... Rhea and Dido are sending assistance to Antigone, where the unexpected halt of the attack led by the "Lady Akui" has left only about 40% of the population alive..."_

After a few moments of static, the news continued. " _Antigonians, if you hear this, help is coming! ... The princesses of Hestia, Antigone, and Rhea are all missing, possibly dead - Princess Rose of Rhea was driven off of her planet and it is unsure now whether her mother was a traitor to the system or loyal to the end ... There are no Queens remaining; King Lycus is the only planetary head of government left ... Rumors of Sailor Soldiers-"_

It fizzled and sputtered and reverted back to static, and nothing Ryn could do thereafter would coax the radio to resume picking it up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Komodia and Halia's names are real ones: Komodia was a minor Greek goddess, personification of happiness and amusement, while Halia was a Nereid, and/or the personification of the saltiness of the sea. The planetary history of Dido, meanwhile, draws from the myth of [Dido, Queen of Carthage](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dido_%28Queen_of_Carthage%29).
> 
> Gratuitous Japanese:  
> "jinan" (second son...because he's the second general...)  
> "baka" (stupid)
> 
> Mary Sue Checklist for Ryn:  
> (x) Holds her own in a senshi-versus-generals fight  
> (x) The narrative stops to dwell on her cold, unfeeling battle eyes


	8. Part Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which we get some lessons about Xyll system theology and linguistics. Also, the evil queen has a pastede-on thing for a random mortal guy, because, again, that's the Done Thing when you are an evil queen.

The goddess Hestia is one of an odd group, those whose namesakes are planets in the Xyll system: Chronos, Hestia, Antigone, Dido, and Rhea. Dido and Antigone were mortal heroes who later became goddesses, and neither of them are seen any more. Supposedly Dido took Antigone into her section of the immortal kingdom.

This kingdom, by the way, is a place often called Olympus which is not anything like a mountain. It is a sort of extension of our universe, which exists in the same space and time as ours but on a higher plane. Chronos, god of time and space, and Rhea, goddess of creation and fertility, shared an odd tendency: that to incarnate themselves as powerless mortals and take a place in history. Chronos' mortal descendants include Sailor Pluto and Queen Hades of Chronos.

Rhea still incarnates herself mortally now and then. Her most recent incarnation was that of Queen Kashoku Lobelia of Hestia. Chronos no longer practices this habit. He, Antigone, and Dido no longer have any contact with the non-Olympian universe.

Only Hestia, goddess of the family and the hearth, does.

Her custom is to appear as a giant woman in flowing white robes. In the non-Olympian universe she is vulnerable, as was demonstrated by her reaction to the Dokuchishio. She did not die, but was thrown back to the Olympian universe and has been there ever since.

Every home on Hestia, no matter how good their electric heating was, had a hearth. The Queen of Hestia prayed for the goddess' help at her hearth fire. As a result, Hestia intervened in the non-Olympian universe in ways that made Hestia prosper immensely.

Planet Hestia is now a barren wasteland, with its patron goddess confined temporarily to the Olympian universe and the Dark Kingdom in control. Only the castle and its grounds remain untouched. The castle is in disrepair; the balcony the Helenity had knocked off less than two weeks before still lies crumbled on the ground, along with the wreckage of her fighter.

* * *

The planeful of princesses and their companions landed on Hestia about a day after leaving Dido. Although larger than Antigone, Hestia was closer to its parent star Xyll, third out after Rhea and Dido. Our heroes took refuge in the orange orchard, where a lot of the trees had plenty of fruit despite their recent neglect.

The day after they had landed, the four senshi planned their attack on the palace. They would find Komodia (and Hajimeha and Jinan, if they had broken Jennifity's extra-powerful gems) and try to drive her away. That accomplished, they would teleport to Kiraino's mothership. Maybe. Beyond that day, they had no specific plan.

The four Sailor Soldiers, all transformed except for Helenity, snuck through the palace. Helenity led the way. The palace was mostly deserted, although they had to hide from the occasional youma. At last they reached the throne room, where Sailor Dido had assumed the generals' egos would lead them to stay.

Dido was right. Outside the throne room they could hear Komodia sobbing. "Why aren't you comforting me, Halia-san?" she demanded between sobs.

Another woman's voice, cold and factual, answered her. "Why should I? It's your fault. You let Jinan-san be encased in those crystals. Our youma have been able to break out of their encasing, but Jinan's prison is too strong for him to break. There's nothing I can say to comfort you - nothing true, anyway."

"You're so cruel!" Komodia's high voice had lost the crying undertone and was now poutingly hurt. "I'm the most powerful general left and you know it!"

"Yes, but are you the smartest?" snapped Halia's voice.

"I'm leaving!" huffed Komodia. She stomped right past the ornate curtains which our heroes hid behind. Once her footsteps had faded into silence, the senshi nodded at Helenity. She took a deep breath and stepped out of hiding.

"You," she snapped in a no-nonsense princess voice. "Halia-san. That is your name, right?"

"It is. And you're Helenity-hime. Nice to see you. Kiraino-sama was chewing me out for not knowing if you'd made it out of that ship alive or not. So kind of you to clarify it for me."

"I want some answers," Helenity commanded. "How much territory is under Kiraino's control?"

"The princess threatens me? And if I don't respond..."

"We force the information out of you." Behind the curtain, the senshi prepared to come out.

"By whom? You?" Halia laughed.

"No. Sailor Dido." Dido stepped into the open. "And Sailor Rhea." Rhea followed suit. "And Sailor Antigone." Antigone joined the trio. Halia looked generally alarmed; she began hissing under her breath.

The original colonists of Dido all spoke the same language. But by the time the entire system was colonized, there were three languages spoken, not including Japanese, which by the way was called Galactic Basic at that time.

In our time, people from Rhea and most of Antigone speak the same language, people from Chronos and the other part of Antigone speak a slightly different dialect, and people from Dido and Hestia spoke a language that was similar to the other two, as French and Spanish are similar. Chronosians, Antigonese, and Rheaites are understandable by each other. When a person of one of these planetalities comes in contact with someone from Dido or Hestia, all parties involved generally speak Galactic Basic.

However, there is another language spoken in the system. Very few people understand it, which is why Kiraino Ouhi used it and commanded her minions to do the same.

Sailor Antigone said a silent apology to her languages teacher, who had made her learn all three languages plus Galactic Basic in preparation for becoming a Queen. Jennifity hadn't been very nice to this teacher, as with all of her teachers - but it was thanks to this woman that Sailor Antigone now knew what Halia was saying: She was beginning the portal spell.

" _None of that_ ," she said in the hissing language, then added in Galactic Basic, the language that they all spoke with each other, "Gem Encrustation!"

Halia gulped as she was encased in gold jewels from the shoulders down. "You! You-ssSSssthssS!" In anger she reverted back to the hissing language.

"Now now," said Antigone, "don't be vulgar."

"You understand that?" asked Helenity in amazement.

" _Well enough_ ," replied Antigone in the Hestian language. "I had to learn all the Xyll languages in school," she added in Basic.

"Now," Helenity said, turning to Halia, "you're going to answer our questions. First: How much territory is under Kiraino's control?"

"I will not answer. I will not betray my queen."

Just then Komodia's voice floated into the room, followed quickly by Komodia herself. "Halia-san, the Queen wants to see-eek!"

"Gem Encrustation!"

"Flower Hurricane!"

Komodia squealed some more. "Maybe you will tell us what territory your queen controls," Helenity said icily.

"Yes! Yes! I'll tell everything! Just don't hurt me!" Komodia cried.

"No!" shouted Halia, but Komodia was already yelling, "She's got all of the major country of Antigone and soon she's going to get the minor country - she has all of Hestia except the cities in the mountain ranges, which Halia-san and I planned to get in the next few days - she's attacking Dido with a youma army, and she's planning an assault on Rhea!"

"Thanks-" began Sailor Rhea, but was interrupted by a crash from behind her. Halia had broken out of her crystal prison and was standing before them unhindered. "Dust Bunnies Hop!" cried Rhea, but the rabbits which would do so much to a human didn't faze Halia at all.

With a shout and a series of hisses, she generated a giant spear of green and white liquid, which she threw at the sailors. "Helenity," Rhea whispered, "get out of sight and transform!"

Helenity left, and as the other senshi fought liquid missiles with their assorted attacks she pulled her crystal out of nowhere. Soon the comforting white fire enveloped her, tongues of flame creating the green and teal fuku she wore.

She was about to step in when she saw that the girls were doing fine on their own. Antigone had encrusted Komodia completely; the airheaded general had never thought to try to break out while the senshi were fighting. Halia, the girls could handle. Sailor Hestia decided to make a dramatic entrance.

The remaining general had just knocked Dido aside and was preparing a spear to throw at Antigone when a voice stopped him. "Hold it right there!"

"Who is it now?" demanded an irritated Halia.

"I'm the eldest of the Sailor Senshi of Xyll and I fight for the largest planet left in the Solar System of Xyll. I am the soldier whose power comes from the hottest fire, white flames. I won't allow you to destroy any more planets the way you destroyed mine! Hestia ni kawatte, oshioki yo!"

"Hurry up," grumbled Rhea. "Attack him already."

"Hopeful Blaze!" A stream of white flames shot down onto Halia. The liquid spear which she was still holding vaporized, and her uniform and hair were scorched.

"About time!" Dido said, standing up. "I was getting tired of being the only one who could do anything."

"Hey!" cried Antigone and Rhea.

"Well, you can't attack, just encase people in crystals, and your rabbits don't really make much of a difference," Dido said to each girl in turn.

"Owch!" A spear hit Hestia, but it was smaller and weaker than the others. "Antigone, are you up to making some more extra-strong crystal?"

"I'm not sure," came the truthful reply.

"Can we give you our power?" queried Rhea.

"You can try. I'm not any more experienced at this senshi thing than you are."

"Dust Bunnies Hop!" The fluffy gray rabbits hit Halia on the head. She dazedly raised a spear and threw it, not at the senshi, but at Komodia's prison. Antigone jumped to intercept it, and fell heavily to the ground when it hit her.

"Antigone-chan!" cried Dido. She ran over to her friend, grabbing the henshin crystal that rested at the point of her (Dido's) collar. It started to glow purple. Suddenly purple energy was flowing into Sailor Antigone, who sat up. "I'm okay, you don't need to get all worked up about it," she chided.

"Hopeful Blaze!" Hestia stopped Halia from attacking again. She was in very bad shape by now, but Helenity had to give her credit: The lady did not give up easily.

Rhea, meanwhile, was sending pink energy into Antigone. Walking over to them, Hestia clasped her own henshin crystal, and blue energy added itself to the mix.

"You know, I think I could do it now," remarked Antigone, standing up. She faced Halia and began to generate a ball of glowing energy. "Gem EncrusTATION!!!" she shouted, and the golden crystal shot at Halia, enveloping her.

"There'd better not be another one of those guys hiding behind the curtains," Rhea said as the three caught Antigone, whose legs had given out.

"There isn't," the former host of Lady Akui reassured them. "Kiraino only has four generals and a bunch of youma. The palace is ours."

* * *

Aboard the ship of the Dark Kingdom, Kiraino Ouhi was in a bad mood. And when Kiraino Ouhi is in a bad mood, you don't go near her unless you have a death wish. Kiraino did some of her best killings while in a bad mood; every youma in the Dark Kingdom knew this.

Kiraino's mothership was large and grand, with long wide hallways. Her screeches echoed down those hallways. They echoed loud and clear.

"How could this happen? All of my generals dispatched in less than two weeks! Why can't Jinan break out? He was my best general, my most powerful! How could he fail to escape? And Lady Akui, how could she possibly have broken out of her seal? HOW? HOW?! Youkai! Youkai, come here at once!"

Whoever or whatever Youkai was, he/she/it was wise. Youkai didn't show up.

"How dare Youkai disobey me?! And the attack on Dido! How could it have failed? It was Halia who led it. I can't ask her, because she's thoroughly encrusted in that detestable crystal! Crystal from the girl who was once MY servant! This is an OUTRAGE!!"

Kiraino continued in the same vein of screaming for a while, until her voice gave out. She then began to ponder something. _I don't know if it will work ... but I need to do something ... and I'm fresh out of generals ... I will._

Having decided this, and gotten her voice back while she pondered, Kiraino shrieked in a calm (relatively speaking) voice, "Youkai! Come here."

A small blue youma wearing an elegant ball dress stepped in. "Y-yes, Kiraino-sama?" she asked in a timid voice.

"Fetch the suspan pod from the storage room."

"You mean the-"

"Yes, I mean that one. Do it now."

Youkai scurried off to the storage room, where a suspended animation pod lay forgotten. Its occupant, four years older than the princess of Dido when he was captured, was now only two years older, having been held in an ageless state. Youkai timidly crept up to the pod, as though expecting to see a ghost, then grabbed it and with strength that seemed unnatural considering her tiny body dragged it hastily back up to Kiraino.

"Good," said Kiraino. "Leave." She then stepped down from her throne and held up one hand, conjuring what looked suspiciously like a lipstick tube. As it turned out, that is exactly what it was. She carefully coated her lips with the poisonous-looking green sheen and smiled. The lips made her smile even more snakelike.

This lipstick was an invention of Kiraino's. It contained chemicals which would fog the mind. Of course, she would be unaffected by it. When the chemicals entered a person, they would be confused and so much easier to brainwash, as they say in the science fiction movies.

Satisfied, Kiraino walked over to the suspan pod, pressed a button which retracted the lid, and gave the man inside a long and passionate kiss on the lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm kinda hateshipping Komodia/Halia now. Who's with me?
> 
> (Also, I want a spinoff in which the youma in the ball gown escapes her evil home and has wacky adventures. Possibly with [Thetis](http://wikimoon.org/index.php?title=Thetis) and [Doorknobdar](http://wikimoon.org/index.php?title=Doorknobdar) as her BFFs.)
> 
> All the m/f crushes/relationships/romances in this story fall pretty flat anyway. They're another example of something I was writing because it's the Done Thing, even while in practice I was putting 90% of the complexity and characterization into the female characters and their relationships (which is also the Done Thing for much of BSSM, come to think of it).
> 
> Fridge Logic: Florenity is currently 14. The gentleman in the pod is 16. Therefore, when he was first kidnapped, he was 16 and she was 12. And he's supposed to have had a crush on her. Oh dear.
> 
> Gratuitous Japanese:  
> "Hestia ni kawatte, oshioki yo!" (In the name of Hestia, I'll punish you!)  
> "youkai" (same as "youma", though it's treated here as one of their names)
> 
> Not Actually A Reference:  
> Although the first three Harry Potter books were out by the time I wrote this, I was late getting into them. The evil hissing language is there because, c'mon, who _doesn't_ think hissing sounds kind of evil?


	9. Part Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which apparently everyone hates dresses, Sailor Antigone slips into the wrong introductory speech template, and male characters keep getting kidnapped.

Fog.

Where was he?

There wasn't anything but fog.

The world was fog.

He struggled to remember, at last coming up with an image of a laughing girl. The girl he loved.

His eyes slid open.

"Who are you?"

Kiraino smiled. "I'm your wife."

"You are?"

"Of course." Her smile broadened as she drew upon the evil power of Metallia to twist his memories. When they unfogged he would have no clue that they had been tampered with. "It'll come back to you, oto-chan."

The fog was clearing. He couldn't see the laughing girl any more. Instead he saw the woman before him. The woman he...loved?

Yes. He loved her.

"Ouhi-chan," he whispered, a smile broadening his lips. "What happened to me?"

"I'll tell you." He sat up, and she slid into his arms, looking more like a snake than ever. "But first, there is something you must do for me."

"What, darling?"

"Step into there." Kiraino pointed to a man-sized cylinder that had just materialized. Five minutes later the boy came out of the cylinder physically twenty, wearing a suit of armor. The Queen of Hate was cheering inside. Two years in suspended animation had made it so much easier to edit his mind. And now he was hers!

"You look beautiful," she assured him. Five years of simulated growth had made him very handsome. "You have powers now, too. There is something I'd like you to do with them."

"Anything, my love."

"You see them?" Kiraino generated a hologram of the group in the Hestian orange orchard. "Kill them all. Except for those two." The hologram zoomed in on Florenity and Ryn in turn. "Bring them to me."

* * *

The group, unaware that they had just been ordered dead, was having a picnic outside before moving into the palace. It was early afternoon and the picnic was also celebration for the defeat of Halia and Komodia that morning.

"These oranges are delicious," remarked Florenity as she sliced one up. "I can't imagine how they survived and thrived."

"They're specially bred to be large and juicy," Helenity explained. She stretched out her legs, which were now clad in the pilot's uniform she had gotten from the hangar. "Oh, it feels so good to be out of dresses!"

* * *

Kiraino's victim, hidden in the shadows of the thickest trees, smirked. He saw no challenge here. It would be slaughter, plain and simple, and his name would be remembered always-

What was his name?

He fingered his sword, thinking, until at last a picture came to him. It was the laughing purple-haired girl. She was saying a name. He struggled to remember it - what if it was his?

Think, Aeneas, think, he told himself.

It hit him like a thunderbolt. Aeneas! A strange word, but the more he thought about it, the more it seemed to fit him. Aeneas. His thoughts returned to the image of them screaming for mercy in his name as he killed them all easily. Normally he would not have bothered, but Ouhi-chan had ordered it, and he was not in the habit of questioning her orders.

Aeneas stepped away from the group. He had all the time in the world to bump them off - just a group of helpless girls, mostly children, and a few weak looking men. He was in no hurry. There was ample time for practicing his sword skills and investigating those oranges. With a well-handled swing, Aeneas sliced a branch from one of the trees and pulled an orange off.

He couldn't remember if he liked oranges, but there was no harm in trying to find out.

* * *

"Is there anything else besides oranges in this orchard?" asked Rose presently.

"There might still be a grape arbor over that way," Hestia mused, looking off to one side. "You want to go see?"

"Sure," said Rose, and Mamorinuku added quickly, "I'll go with you. There may be some youma who aren't aware that we've got the palace."

"I can take care of myself. I am a Sailor Senshi, after all."

"Yes, but I have an obligation which I am going to fulfill."

"You think it's more than just an 'obligation'?" Jennifity asked Florenity, a mischievous glint in her eye. Florenity nodded, and gave Mamorinuku an exaggerated wink. He began to protest, but Jennifity would hear none of it. "Go on, go look for the _grape arbor_ ," she said, placing sarcastic emphasis on the last two words. With Mamorinuku looking especially embarrassed, the pair left.

"Must you go on like that?" asked Helenity when they were out of earshot.

"Yes, we must," Florenity replied. "Oh come on. It's all in fun. He's like six years older than her."

* * *

Aeneas hastily used one of the broad leaves of the orange tree for a napkin when he heard footsteps approaching. To inspire a proper feeling of terror, it is not helpful to have juice dripping down your chin.

"I don't know why you got so worked up about their teasing," Rose said as they walked along the path. "Jennifity-chan's just being silly. It's not very polite to make fun of you for doing your duty, after all."

Behind her, Mamorinuku opened his mouth, then closed it again. He frowned, as though the closing had been unintentional, and opened it again. "Well, actually, I..."

"You what?"

Without warning, a whacking sound rang out. Rose whipped around to see Mamorinuku stagger, clutching the back of his head. Behind him was a tall man with purple hair in dark armor and a black cloak, holding a sword. He put one foot on Mamorinuku's back as the other fell and pointed the sword at his throat. "Don't move, child."

Rose, who had leapt back several feet in shock, froze.

"Take two steps forward."

As she had in her childhood, when she had been thus instructed by her mother after doing something wrong, Rose moved each foot forward a fraction of a centimeter.

"Two more. Otherwise I slit your boyfriend's throat."

"He's not my boyfriend. He's my guardian."

"Not a very good one, is he? Stop stalling, girl - two steps. Real ones this time. Ouhi-chan wants you alive."

Ouhi-chan? Rose took two steps, slightly longer, towards the attacker and tried to comprehend this. Ouhi-chan. He was that familiar with Kiraino Ouhi, who Rose would never have guessed somebody could even be familiar with? There was only one thing to do. The bit of the Star Crystal which sat on her chest suddenly seemed warmer.

"Rhea Crystal Power-"

"Say what?" asked Aeneas in confusion. Was this some kind of spell?

"-MAKE UP!"

An orange slice stopped halfway to Florenity's mouth as she saw the flash of light in the distant orchard. "What in Xyll is that?"

"Rose-chan's transformed!" exclaimed Jennifity half a moment later. "Antigone Crystal Power, Make Up!"

"Hestia Crystal Power, Make Up!"

"Dido Crystal Power, Make Up!"

The three sailors rushed off to help their comrade.

* * *

"Does your boyfriend like that skirt?" taunted Aeneas.

The girl blushed and tried to tug her skirt down a bit more. "He's not my boyfriend! He's my guardian, and ... oooh, Dust Bunnies FLY!" A flood of extra-strong gray rabbit-shaped fluffballs shot at Aeneas. He tried not to laugh, then remembered that courtesy was not an issue here and snickered rudely. Then the rabbits hit him - "Owch!"

How could a stream of dust bunnies hurt him? It didn't seem possible, yet the evidence was there. She had yelled. The rabbits had come. The rabbits had reached him. He had been thrown off of his prisoner.

"Who are you?" the girl demanded.

"I could ask the same of you," he snapped.

"Kiraino sent you. She must have told you who we are."

Aeneas shook his head, but a voice from behind stopped him. "She is Sailor Rhea, sailor soldier protector of this stellar system! I am her fellow senshi, Sailor Hestia!"

"I am Sailor Dido, also a protector of this system!"

"Invited by the new age, Sailor Antigone acts with elegance!"

"My name," Aeneas snapped, "is Aeneas. Husband of the lovely Kiraino Ouhi." He must have missed the look on Antigone's face, which could have curdled milk, because he went on: "She directed me to kill you all, except for three which were to be brought back to her."

"Your name is Aeneas?" Dido said, a puzzled look on her face. "Are you quite certain?"

"No. Why?"

The purple-haired soldier frowned intently, then stepped forward and stared at his face. "I knew you looked  -AIEEK!" She screamed as Aeneas swung the sword, hitting her in the arm with the flat of the blade.

"Hopeful Blaze!" Hestia knocked Aeneas away from Dido and jumped forward to grapple with him for the sword. The warrior made a valiant effort to keep it, but got tangled in his cape and lost the sword to Hestia.

"Baka cape--" Throwing off the cape, and discarding the silver epaulets with it, Aeneas pulled a second sword from his side and clashed it against the blade that was now Hestia's.

"Gem Encrustation!" After Antigone's yell, Aeneas found himself unable to move one leg. It had been encrusted up to mid-thigh, and was thus completely motionless and rooted to the spot.

"Wait!" cried Dido as Hestia thrust the sword towards Aeneas' heart. The teal-suited soldier paused, and the blow was blocked by Aeneas' blade. "I don't know what happened to him, but Aeneas-kun is a member of the Didoan palace guard. He went missing a long time ago, Kiraino must have captured him. She's done something to his memories so he thinks he's her husband. But ..."

As she talked, Aeneas felt something stir within him. The memories Ouhi-chan had said he might not recover for a long time. A picture was emerging in his mind, but there was something not quite real about it, as though it were a private fantasy he had dreamed up and held on to for a long time. It was himself and the purple-haired girl, who looked strangely like Sailor Dido...no, she didn't.

In fact, the more he tried to remember it, the more the image blurred, until he could see clearly that it was Kiraino Ouhi. They were kissing. She was younger, perhaps only fourteen, but it was her. Now it made sense - the image was a fantasy he had had when he was younger and not married to her yet.

"... we have to fix that, have to revive him. She's done something to his body too ..."

"It could be the Hatsushinshin," said Antigone thoughtfully. "That's where Lady Akui came from. It ages one's body and gives them a new mind, which Kiraino controls the shaping of but which becomes independent once created. After all, Akui didn't respect Kiraino."

"Hatsushinshin or not," said Mamorinuku, speaking to Aeneas, "you tried to kill me and would have killed Rhea-hime if not for Kiraino's orders. We're good people - you're her pawn, don't you see?"

They were confusing Aeneas. He wasn't sure what to believe. He had the memory, the kissing fantasy, but it had changed ... he loved Ouhi, but these girls seemed to think she had controlled that...what was real anymore? He couldn't trust anything, not even his own mind ...

Suddenly calm assurance swept over him. Back in her ship, Kiraino wove her hands in a delicate pattern over the air as she watched a hologram of Aeneas' work. "You love me," she whispered. "You are my husband. Following my directions is only natural."

Yes, it was. Aeneas raised the sword and smashed it against the gems on his legs. The blade shattered, but so did the gems. Before anyone could react, he'd hissed the portal spell, grabbed Mamorinuku's arm, and dragged the other man through the portal to Kiraino's ship.

"But Aeneas," said Kiraino, her voice masking the venom she would have used with one of her other servants, "that is not one of the ones I told you to bring back alive."

"I know, Ouhi," replied Aeneas. "I had the idea that we could use him as a hostage." He didn't know where the idea of hostages had come from, only that it seemed to please his wife, who was smiling. "I'll send a message to explain the matter to the senshi-taichi."

"A worthy plan. You are much more competent than my other minions."

"'Minions', Kiraino?" asked Mamorinuku, raising one eyebrow.

"I did not mean to imply that my husband is a minion, or only worth as much as one," responded Kiraino icily. To Aeneas she said, "Take him away and assign one of the youma to take care of him. Youkai will do."

* * *

In her plan to take over the Xyll star system, Kiraino experimented with many different ways of empowering her youma. Many of her experimental youma were destroyed in her harsh tests. One, a small blue youma, was part of a set of six which were empowered on the theory of brains over brawn.

The smallest of them, called Youkai, was rejected by her five larger and more agile peers, who rejected Kiraino and vanished from history. Not until Beryl took over would they return, believing Beryl's plans bound for success, to kill the Inner Soldiers not with force but with illusions.

Youkai stayed with Kiraino's forces. She was too weak for fighting, so a long time passed during which she was nothing more than a decoration in a pretty pink and gold ball dress. However, Youkai was recently given her first order since the experimental tests. Now she was given her second order: Keep the human in mildly good health.

In Mamorinuku's humble opinion, she took her job far too seriously.

"Are you comfortable? Do you want something to eat? Would you like some music?" she asked, although he was sitting in a pile of pillows surrounded by the unappetizing fruit that youma can eat with a green and scaly band going full blast in one corner.

He sighed. "Listen, Youkai, all I want to do is go back to Rose-taichi."

"And then you'd be comfortable?" Youkai asked anxiously.

"Yes. I would."

"Oh good!" And, with Mamorinuku hardly daring to believe his luck, she hissed something which opened a portal. "They're right through there. You can just go on through - unless of course you're hungry?"

"No, not at all." And Mamorinuku stepped up to the portal and climbed through. He pitied Youkai; she would have a lot of explaining to do when Kiraino found out.

* * *

Rose was blaming herself for Mamorinuku's capture; although technically he was her protector, she still felt she had failed him. She had returned to the picnic scene at the others' urging, but had a strangely dead look in her eyes, as though she weren't really in Helenity's arms where the older princess was cradling her.

Suddenly everyone's attention was diverted from their worry about Rose when a portal opened up and Mamorinuku stepped through.

He had been expecting a warm welcome, but Rose just stared for a second, then asked in a voice barely above a whisper, "Did she change you like Aeneas-san?"

"No, I'm me, honest!" exclaimed a startled Mamorinuku. "I just got put in the custody of a very stupid youma." He smiled reassuringly, and then Rose broke away from Helenity's comforting embrace and ran to him. She fell into his arms and was met with a tight hug that could have been brotherly, and could have been protectorly, but seemed somehow to be much more than that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Given the whole "fantasizing about kissing a twelve-year-old" thing, maybe it's for the best if Aeneas stays kidnapped. (He's named after [a mythical figure who had an affair with the queen Dido](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeneas), by the way.)
> 
> Poor lil' Youkai. At least her fate doesn't get specified in-story, so you can imagine she was kicked through a portal to present-day Earth and got to go on that youma road trip. I know that's what I'll be imagining.
> 
> Gratuitous Japanese:  
> "oto-chan" (dear husband)


	10. Part Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which there are creepy mindspace goings-on, Lethe and Mnemosyne reprise their roles, and a mysterious shadowy figure joins the villain party.

Jennifity sat in her bed, thinking. She couldn't sleep. Her mind was on the Hatsushinshin and Lady Akui.

She pitied Akui, in a way. The two were not the same person, although they might be physically twins. When it had come to a choice between herself and Akui, with a person who was both of them making the choice, Jennifity had survived. That meant that Akui must have realized that the right thing to do, the thing that would be best for the universe, was to let Jennifity live.

Or maybe the lady of malice had just wanted to play a final trick on Kiraino.

But somehow, Jennifity doubted that.

Sailor Lethe and Sailor Mnemosyne. She hadn't told anyone about them, and it seemed to her that they would prefer it stayed that way. They were a very secret pair, those two. Everyone knew of them, somewhere in the back of their minds, because of who they were: senshi of Oblivion and Memory.

However, very few people could tell you anything about the two. There were some things that even Jennifity did not know, things that Sailor Pluto and almost nobody else knows. Hardly anyone is aware, for example, that when a new mind and body is created within an old mind and body, they cannot coexist. In the case of Jennifity and Akui, she/they were kept stable by suppressing Jennifity.

The point of all this, whether you understood it or not, is that Sailor Lethe and Sailor Mnemosyne _had_ to go to Akui and revive Jennifity. Similarly, they will _have_ to go to Aeneas. It takes a great amount of power to stop these two sailors from doing their duty.

By the fall of the Silver Millennium, Sailor Galaxia and Chaos had gathered enough power to do just this. The pair was unable to restore Prince Endymion's memories when he was brainwashed into joining the Dark Kingdom. Fortunately, Sailor Moon was able to take over for Sailor Mnemosyne.

That same night, Sailor Lethe and Sailor Mnemosyne exerted their powers once again, sending their spirits far from the depths of the galaxy and into the mothership of Kiraino's fleet.

"Aeneas."

"Aeneas-kun..."

He heard the call and frowned mentally. The world was fog again. He had woken up here, and the fog had cleared within a few minutes. Aeneas waited for a few minutes.

"Aeneas-kun..."

"Who are you?" demanded Aeneas. "What's going on?"

A figure stepped out of the fog, and Aeneas regretted his rude manner. "Sailor Mnemosyne-sama..." he whispered in awe.

* * *

The four senshi awoke. They were not in their beds in the Palace of Hestia but in what is best described as a vast black expanse of nothingness, and not in sailor form or normal but somewhere in between: glowing silhouettes.

"What's happening?" murmured Rose.

"You are in the mind of Aeneas," replied an oddly familiar voice. Two more glowing female forms faded into view in front of them: one a bluish green, one pink. Jennifity recognized them instantly.

"Lethe-san. Mnemosyne-san," she murmured. The other girls gasped in awe, not having met these soldiers of legend before.

The half-transformed pink silhouette nodded. "We have brought you here to break Kiraino's influence over Aeneas. She has a strong hold on his mind and will not give it up easily - and he cannot remember himself until she is gone."

"Why will we be able to save him if you can't?" queried Helenity. "I mean, you're _you_."

The green silhouette smiled. "We are not all-powerful, nor are we fierce fighters. We can only save him if you clear the way." She and the pink silhouette faded out again.

"Wait! What are we supposed to..." Florenity's shout quieted in dismay. "...do?"

Then the blackness around the half-transformed girls began to swirl with a poisonous green color. "She's noticed us," murmured Jennifity. "Antigone Crystal Power, Make Up!"

Nothing happened.

"Our normal powers don't seem to be working..." mused Helenity.

"Then what do Lethe-sama and Mnemosyne-sama expect us to do?" cried Rose.

"I don't know," Jennifity replied as the unnerving green swirls grew clearer. "This didn't have to happen before..."

* * *

Ryn awoke with a start. _Goddess, not again,_ she thought. _What on Xyll and all the planets is wrong this time?_

But nothing seemed pressingly wrong in her room, and she couldn't feel anything similar to what she had the last time she'd woken up like this. So she leapt out of bed, dressed in three seconds flat as she'd been trained (like riding a bike, you never forget the lessons at Spacers' Academy). She headed first for Jennifity's room, going on instinct. Experience had taught her that her instincts were rarely wrong.

The blonde princess was lying in her bed as usual, and certainly looked like she was sleeping peacefully. But something was amiss. After a few moments of watching in puzzlement, Ryn realized that Jennifity wasn't breathing.

She had a pulse. Oh, she was breathing - just so shallowly that her torso wasn't rising and falling with the motion. Ryn checked the other princesses; all four were in the same state.

* * *

Sailor Mnemosyne nodded to Aeneas. "We have come to reunite you with your memories."

"Nani?" Confusion seemed to be the ruling force in Aeneas' life these days.

Sailor Lethe stepped forward. "Kiraino has suppressed your memory and replaced it with one of her own crafting. Listen." She raised one arm and touched Aeneas' forehead with two fingertips - and he couldn't remember why he had ever thought he was married to Kiraino.

He didn't even like her, much less love her.

As her sister stepped back, Sailor Mnemosyne stepped forward and touched her own fingertips to Aeneas' forehead.

He liked - well, the thought was a bit embarrassing.

"What'll happen to me?" he asked. "Am I still in Kiraino's ship? I have to get away from her-"

"We can't assist you," Sailor Mnemosyne cautioned. "We are only the catalysts, the ones who enable you to be yourself again."

"However," added Sailor Lethe, "you will notice that you haven't forgotten how to find or operate Kiraino's escape pods." The two vanished, and Aeneas awoke.

* * *

The poisonous swirls seemed to be closing in. "What do we DO?" whimpered Rose.

"I feel so . . . _helpless_ without my powers," admitted Florenity nervously.

Helenity looked up sharply. "That's it - helpless - but I survived before I became a senshi, we all did. We may be unable to attack, but I'm sure we can do something nonetheless..."

"Like what?" demanded Jennifity. "I know some self-defense, but no real martial arts or anything."

The teal-haired princess kicked at the swirls. Nothing happened. They didn't even alter their course. It occurred to Helenity that she had no sense of distance in this place: the swirls could be huge and miles away or just out of her reach, and she had no hope of telling which was the case.

* * *

Aeneas tiptoed through the corridors of Kiraino's ship. He assumed she would be asleep, but when he passed her control room a flickering light in the crack of the door caught his eye. His curiosity piqued, Aeneas took a look inside.

Kiraino and a person he didn't recognize were standing together in front of her throne, talking in hushed but by no means inaudible voices. "And they can't get out?" Kiraino was hissing.

"They're trapped," the figure assured her in a low voice. "The four princesses are completely ensnared. They believe they're freeing Aeneas the way Lethe and Mnemosyne freed Jennifity. The only way for them to escape is if someone from the outside broke in - and they can't contact anybody outside their mental prison."

"And the spacer?"

"I was unable to find the spacer to trap her, but be assured that I will not rest until I have managed it."

He'd heard enough. Aeneas raced for the escape pods. Within minutes a small pod had left Kiraino's ship. Nobody noticed.

* * *

Something lit up the sky outside, and Ryn saw the bright flash through the window of Rose's room. She raced outside to discover a tiny escape pod in the courtyard, rather battered after making a rough landing but intact. _Oh no, not again,_ thought Ryn, but quickly amended that: _The last escape pod we saw held Helenity. Who's in this one?_

The door complained as it creaked open on bent hinges, but did open enough for the occupant to step out. And step out he did; it was Aeneas, looking younger than the last time they'd seen him but clearly himself.

"What are you doing here?" demanded Ryn, always direct.

The purple-haired guard spoke hurriedly. "Sailors Lethe and Mnemosyne came - I'm myself again, I've got my memory back - but I heard Kiraino and somebody talking - they've got the princesses!"

"The princesses are in their beds sleeping," Ryn countered, a gun almost appearing in her hand. "Talk fast."

"The person Kiraino was talking to called it a mental prison," Aeneas explained as quickly as he could. "She said they'd never get out unless somebody outside contacted them. And she said she was trying to capture a spacer too. Is that you?"

Ryn nodded slowly. "It makes sense. But still - how do I know that you're telling the truth, that you aren't still Kiraino's agent?"

Aeneas was as direct as Ryn had been just a month earlier. "You don't. But you need to trust me, because if you don't there's no telling what'll happen to them."

The spacer looked closely at Aeneas' eyes. They reflected a slight glow from the light of Hestia's dual moons. "All right," she said at last. "How do you propose we go about this?"

The young guard looked slightly abashed. "I ... was kind of hoping you had some ideas," he admitted.

* * *

"We're stuck," said Helenity flatly. "Utterly stuck."

Jennifity looked around, but all she could see were green swirls on blackness. "Lethe-sama! Mnemosyne-sama!" she called. "We don't know how to do this! Help us!"

Nobody replied.

"Are we going to be here until the end of time?" asked Rose, voice quivering.

"We'd better not be," grumbled the blonde princess. "I know Lethe-san and Mnemosyne-san wouldn't do this to us. They wouldn't put us here if we couldn't help..."

"How do you know?" queried Florenity.

"Um ..." Jennifity hesitated, then began to explain how the legendary soldiers had come to her and Lady Akui and given them a life-shaping choice ...

* * *

Aeneas and Ryn stood in Rose's bedroom, where the pink-haired princess lay prone on her pillow. "Does she have the Star Crystal?" asked Aeneas hesitantly.

Ryn bent down and tugged Rose's bunny backpack from under her pillow. Opening it, she reached past the rag doll and picture prints to retrieve the largest section of the Star Crystal. "She does. Why? You have an idea?"

The guard nodded. "If it's still here, well, her mother's dead so shouldn't she be the one connected to it now? Even though it's in pieces?"

"The idea has merit." Ryn sat down on the bed next to the Rheaiite princess and held the crystal in front of her. "Rose-hime. Rose-chan, I'm here. Where are you? Come back here. Come back and be with me and with your crystal."

* * *

In the endless swirling void, Rose's silhouette began to fade away. None of her fellow princesses noticed until she let out a small moan.

"Rose! Rose, what's happening?" cried Florenity, the first to realize that her companion was becoming transparent.

"I don't know...I can feel something pulling me away!" exclaimed a terrified Rose.

The other girls reached for their friend, but found themselves unable to do anything but flounder. After all, there was no ground to push off of in order to walk, and no water to push through in order to swim; they were suspended in midair and couldn't figure out how to propel themselves closer to their fading friend.

"Mnemosyne-san! Lethe-san!" cried Jennifity. "What's happening to Rose?"

As usual, she got no answer. "Goddess, what's going on?" moaned Helenity as the Rheaiite princess faded away entirely. "Is this really Aeneas-kun's mind? Was it him who made Rose-chan fade out like that? Or was it Kiraino?..."

She trailed off, and her two companions couldn't find anything to say. If the Queen of Hate had erased their companion, and they were powerless and more or less helpless ...

* * *

Rose snapped awake, breathing quickly.

"Are you all right?" The sharp question from the familiar voice jolted the princess back into reality. She was in her own bed. Ryn was sitting next to her, holding her henshin crystal and looking concerned.

"I ... I am," stammered Rose. Then she noticed Aeneas. "You're yourself again!"

He nodded. "Rose-hime, listen: I heard Kiraino talking with a friend of hers about how the friend had trapped you and the other princesses in your minds. What's been happening?"

"Why...why, we were told that we had to save _you_ ," the princess explained, perplexed. "The legendary sailors - Sailor Lethe and Sailor Mnemosyne - they told us we had to get you free of Kiraino's influence before they could return your mind to normal..."

"They visited me, yes, but I didn't hear anything about that." Neither Aeneas nor Rose noticed Ryn's surprise at the mention of the near-mythical sailor soldiers. "It all worked out very easily..."

Since Rose had heard about a similar experience from Jennifity, she and Aeneas didn't have to explain fully what they knew, and their conversation was far too rapid for Ryn to follow. She didn't know what exactly happened when you got a visit from the Sailors of Memory and Oblivion, after all. However, it didn't take long for the pair to work out what was going on, that the "sailors" who had visited the Xyllian princesses weren't Sailor Lethe and Sailor Mnemosyne at all, and that they ought to try to bring the other three princesses back in the same manner as Rose ...

* * *

Jennifity was alone. The other two princesses who had been in Aeneas' mind (as far as she knew, anyhow) had faded out just as Rose had. But the Antigonese princess wasn't the type to simply give way to despair. Instead, she was trying to think through what could have happened.

Either Sailor Lethe and Sailor Mnemosyne hadn't known that this would happen, or it hadn't been Sailor Lethe and Sailor Mnemosyne who had put her and her companions in Aeneas' mind. If this was in fact Aeneas' mind; Jennifity was starting to question that also. There wasn't anything of the young guard's personality in this place - just slow green swirls.

Then she felt a tugging at the back of her mind. The blonde princess tugged irritably in the other direction, annoyed that something was disturbing her thoughts. The pull grew stronger...and abruptly she realized that it felt rather like what Florenity and Helenity had described before they had faded out.

But this pull didn't feel like something to be resisted. Actually, it reminded her of the urge she had felt the first time she touched her fragment of the Star Crystal, the urge to cry out that fatal phrase which had saved her life.

Jennifity surrendered to the pull, murmuring as she did so, "Antigone Crystal Power, Make Up..."

* * *

There was a flash of light, and suddenly Sailor Antigone was lying in Jennifity's bed, awake and looking rather startled.

Florenity giggled. "None of us tried to transform when we got brought back," she said mirthfully as her bewildered friend looked around the room. "Yes, it's us," she added hastily.

Sailor Antigone's startled gaze rested on Aeneas. "You're you again? Did we actually manage to do something?" she asked.

"No, that was ..." And Florenity launched into the explanation that she had been given by Helenity, who had heard it from Rose - since Aeneas had been firm on the point that he was not going to end up repeating the story five times over.

* * *

"HOW DID THIS HAPPEN??" shrieked Kiraino.

The figure next to her seemed unconcerned. "Your grip on Aeneas is gone," she informed the livid Queen of Hate. "And using the same methods to entrap them would be ... inadvisable."

Kiraino hissed a furious reply: "Well, FIND another way, Bakasu."

She got no reaction from the shadowed figure, who merely looked up at her as calmly as ever. "Make it worth my while, Kiraino-san, and I will."

The Queen nodded and reached out with one hand to hold it over the crystal ball in front of her. It lit up at her touch, going very bright white as it displayed a massive globe of stored energy. "That could be yours if you cooperate."

Her companion - who, now that she was in the light, sure looked a whole lot like the known and beloved Queen Hades of Chronos - nodded approval. "Consider it done," she said smoothly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Bakasu" is supposed to be a species there, not the Queen-Hades-esque figure's personal name.
> 
> There has been so much wasted suspense in this story lately. People show up and are all "yeah, no worries, I'm fine, not brainwashed, not even traumatized." And I wish I'd thrown some challenges into that mental prison, instead of the creepy landscape of uncaring fog. (...Not that it's a bad visualization of depression, come to think of it. But still.)
> 
> Gratuitous Japanese:  
> "bakasu" (to confuse, bewitch, bewilder)
> 
> Mary Sue Checklist for Ryn:  
> (x) Instincts are never wrong


	11. Part Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which everyone chills at the surprisingly well-kept Hestian palace (seriously, it hasn't even been looted, let alone bombed?) for a while. Because interplanetary genocide that only you can stop is no reason not to break for a pillow fight.

"So tell me something," said Ryn.

Geode, Ursula, Moonie, Jennifity, Florenity, Rose, Helenity, Mamorinuku, Aeneas, Kichou, and Ryn were sitting together in one of the fair-sized servants' dining rooms. The kitchens had been well stocked, and between them Kichou, Ursula, and Mamorinuku had been making meals for the dozen.

Aeneas had been introduced to the group the day before and accepted with no hard feelings, and now they all sat around a large table eating breakfast. The senshi sat together, with Mamorinuku next to Rose and Aeneas between Florenity and Jennifity. Ryn was directly across from them, and at the moment was resting on one elbow and stirring her oatmeal idly with her free hand.

"Your mother performed the Katsuhari," she said, looking at Rose, "because the Hoshizuishou" - she used the name in the common tongue rather than the Rheaiite language - "did not have enough power alone to defeat Kiraino. Correct?"

"That's right." Rose added a large amount of cinnamon to her oatmeal.

"And by channeling planet power with the broken pieces of the Star Crystal, the five Sailor Senshi would have more power than the crystal alone, and it would be enough to remove Kiraino from power." Ryn continued stirring, looking Rose in the eye.

"Yeah." Taking a bite of oatmeal, the pink-haired princess wondered where this was leading.

"Would it work with just four senshi? I mean, would they have the power?"

"No..."

"And where are we going to pull Sailor Chronos from? Senshi'R'Us?"

All movement at the table stopped dead except for Ryn's oatmeal stirring.

"After all, Chronos was blown up. What are the odds that Princess Aeriannity, who is probably Sailor Chronos based on you four, can still channel its power? What are the odds that she's alive?"

"I ... I don't know ... I never thought about that," Rose said slowly.

"Exactly." Ryn stood up, pushed her chair under the table, and strode off, leaving the rest to stare at the uneaten oatmeal still swirling in her bowl.

* * *

The rain started just after breakfast, and continued until late in the afternoon. By evening it was only a fine mist but everything was soggy. The sailors and their comrades, confined to the palace, spent the day exploring. Jennifity, Florenity, and Kichou found a room with a bed twenty feet on each side and covered in pillows, and spent most of the day having a colossal pillow fight - playing at being children in a world where they'd all had to grow up early.

Helenity and Ursula, after laughing over the frilliness of Helenity's wardrobe, joined them, and so did Rose and Moonie after they'd played a game of dolls. Geode meanwhile had found the library, and immersed himself in the technical section. Mamorinuku and Aeneas had some 'guy talk' involving Florenity, and then they ended up rejuvenating the pillow fight just as it was dying down due to Ursula's departure.

When Ursula left the fight, claiming to be too old for that sort of thing, she wandered into the palace's abundant library and found Geode there, immersed in a thick text. After reading over his shoulder for a few moments, Ursula remarked, "I don't know how anyone can understand that stuff, Geode-san."

"It's simple," replied Geode. "The wheel is connected to this rigging by a belt which transfers energy from the axle through the wheel to the..." He broke off as he saw that Ursula was getting lost in the merest of technical jargon, and laughed. "There's a diagram on this page," he said, pulling up a chair from one of the nearby tables and offering it to the countess. "Here, I'll show you." She took the seat, and for most of the day the pair were poring through books.

However, Ryn's comment from breakfast lurked in the back of everyone's minds, shadow-like, taking the edge off of their fun.

* * *

Dinner was whatever the individual could scrounge from the kitchen, although most of the group ate together. Ryn didn't show up, and Rose explained to a worried Moonie that the pilot was in the throne room thinking.

"She already got dinner," Helenity added. "When I went down to get a citron, I noticed she was cleaning up."

The remaining dinner conversation was limited to the pillow fight, and Geode and Ursula talked about art. Ursula had steered Geode into the fine arts section at some point, and they had found that design and mechanics were equally easy to talk about.

As the sun Xyll set in the east, as it does for every one of Xyll's planets, the stars came out. Ryn stood outside, watching the stars twinkle. The rain clouds had cleared up finally, and stars glowed in the darkness of space. "Points of light in a dark world," murmured Ryn to herself. "Like us."

Everyone was relieved when Ryn walked into the kitchen and cooked herself some meatballs. Helenity discovered a hidden stash of three pies which they had for dessert, and everyone but the senshi pushed the shadow to the farthest corners of their thoughts.

Although Aeneas did search the library after dinner. He wouldn't tell anyone, though Florenity asked, what he was looking for - and kept it to himself when he found it.

* * *

The majority of the Xyll system's planets, it seemed, were waging war in the traditional fashion with armies of low-quality youma. Hestia, however, abandoned apart from the senshi-taichi, was isolated from these battles. For them Kiraino had something else planned.

A species known as the _bakasu_ were, and still are, a race that evolved on a planet within the starry elegance of a nebula eons ago and have by now shed their bodies, consisting of only mental power. They tend to be dignified and fairly emotionless, and most do not care about the affairs of 'lesser' beings. However, the energy of races 'afflicted' with bodies is incredible - and can be intoxicating. There are some bakasu who will do anything for the right price, a price paid in energy. Some millennia hence, a bakasu with the self-imposed title of "Wiseman" will wreak havoc on the Sol system. But that was not in the books Aeneas read, of course.

Neither were the events that had occurred written down in any volume in the Hestian library. Kiraino's resting a new crystal ball gently into its stand was unrecorded in any form. Nobody took notes when she waved her hands deliberately over it and chanted the word _bakasu_ over and over, until a swirl of smoke appeared in the room. And certainly there is no record of the following conversation:

"Deorc-san, I presume."

From the smoke came a vibration that reached the Queen of Hate's ears in the form of a voice. "Yes; what do you want from me?"

"Have you the ability to posses a dead body?" asked Kiraino sharply.

"Do you wish to kill yourself and have me take over as you?"

"No. Have you the ability?" When Deorc replied that she could, Kiraino continued, "I have a body that I wish you to possess and with it destroy the Sailor Senshi after attacking them in your...special way."

The telepathic equivalent of a smile was sent through Kiraino's head as Deorc replied, "I would be glad to. Where is the body?"

Kiraino snapped her fingers over the crystal ball and a near-invisible door slid open in the side of her giant throne. Deorc drifted over to look inside - and sent the thought of a wicked grin into Kiraino's head. "Ah, you indeed have a sly plan! The Sailor Senshi-taichi will never expect to be destroyed by their former beloved Queen Hades!"

* * *

The next day dawned bright and clear. Although it was a bit breezy and a bit cool, signaling the upcoming winter, it was not uncomfortably so. It was New Year's Day on Hestia, a fact which Helenity pointed out at breakfast; almost everyone cheerfully decided to relax a little. The general feeling seemed to be that Kiraino could wait until tomorrow to be attacked.

Deorc swept across the planet, taking in the ruin everywhere. At last she came to the palace and soared over to a tall hill overlooking the orchard. Ursula sat there painting the sun low over the orchard, and Helenity was watching her.

"You've got real artistic talent," remarked Helenity.

"Thanks," said Ursula. "Too bad it's not something useful, though, like flying a fighter plane."

Here Deorc's power came into play. Instead of the compliment, Helenity heard Ursula say: "Thanks. Too bad you don't have any useful talents."

"I fly a fighter plane, remember?" asked Helenity.

"That's what I said," said Ursula, puzzled. "Are you okay?" Deorc twisted the words so that Helenity heard: "And crashed it, remember? You couldn't fly a kite."

"I've told you this a million times. You ought to remember that I downed four enemy fighters before three together shot me down."

"But I do remember." Ursula set down her paintbrush. "Didn't you hear me?"

And Helenity heard her say, "Probably a lie. You're such a braggart."

"If you're going to insult me," Helenity snapped angrily, "I'm leaving." She stood up and stomped off, leaving a very bewildered countess behind.

Had Deorc possessed a natural body, she would have been sneering.

* * *

Jennifity and Florenity were sitting in the orchard, sucking the juice out of oranges. "How do you get your hair so shiny?" asked Florenity after a few moments. "You don't even care about how you look."

Deorc twisted it so that Jennifity heard "Why do you always try to be all hard-core and such? It makes you look stupid."

"I don't," Jennifity replied. "Do you really think I look dumb?"

However, Florenity heard "Don't worry about hair, worry about weight. You look like you're starting to carry a few extra pounds."

"Am I really?" Florenity looked down at herself nervously. She dropped the orange she was holding. "Maybe I should start watching what I eat..." If you've seen a picture of her you know Florenity is thin as a rail. However, Jennifity heard "Oh please. You don't try to be cool? Right. A real princess shouldn't be seen in the company of wannabe punks."

She answered, "But I don't! Really! Florenity, you're my best friend, you've got to believe me."

And Florenity heard "Oh, you should. Lose some of that flab. In fact, I don't feel like hanging out with someone so bulky."

"Then leave!" shouted Florenity, which Jennifity heard as "Go away!" She turned and raced away, which made sense to both girls based on the conversation they'd heard. Florenity slumped and burst into tears.

* * *

Next Deorc targeted Moonie, who was skipping alongside Ryn. The pilot was walking along down one of the orchard's winding paths (through which half a dozen people could walk for hours without ever encountering each other) and the girl was blatantly following her. Oddly enough, Ryn didn't seem to mind the little girl's presence. Or maybe she was simply ignoring it.

Either way, when Moonie declared offhand that Chronosian spacers were extremely cool, what Ryn heard was "I don't like you any more."

Despite herself, the pilot queried, "Why not?" However, the version of her reply that Moonie heard was "I don't like you any more," in the spacer's familiar contemptuous voice.

"Why not?" asked Moonie in turn, and, as Deorc put it, Ryn replied, "You're a disobedient little child and a brat. I hate you." The blue-haired cherub failed to notice how uncharacteristic this was for her idol, and protested, "But Ryn-sama..."

Meanwhile, Ryn was hearing the child declare that "You don't like me and you order me around." She replied, rather puzzled now, "That's not true..." but was cut off by Moonie snapping, "Only Mommy was ever allowed to order me around."

"I'm not trying to replace your mother, Moonie-chan, but..." began Ryn.

"No buts!" snapped Ryn to Moonie's ears. "Get out of here - I don't want to talk to you anymore."

At this point Moonie ran away in tears, and Deorc chuckled to herself. She had finally managed to score one on the troublesome spacer that Kiraino was always on about. The bakasu was especially proud of her touch regarding the child's deceased mother. Mothers, with embodied lifeforms, always seemed to be a particularly emotional subject.

Having sowed the seeds of the most destructive dissent she could plant, Deorc sat back (figuratively) to watch the fun.

* * *

That evening at the dinner table, seats were subconsciously rearranged. None of Deorc's victims sat near each other, or across from each other. Dinner was short and quiet, and most people left very quickly. Ursula and Ryn were the last ones left.

"Something's wrong," Ursula remarked, slicing her sorra steak. "Helenity had trouble hearing me, Florenity and Jennifity are fighting, Florenity ate far too little for a growing girl tonight, and _Moonie -_ of all people - wasn't anywhere near you."

"She got upset that I was ordering her around," Ryn explained. "And she's construed - mistakenly - that I deeply dislike her."

Ursula looked up and stared at Ryn, shocked. "The way she told it, you said you hated her!"

"I never did-" Ryn's eyes widened, then narrowed. She picked up her plate, carried it inside to the row of sinks, and walked outside without a word to the countess.

* * *

The sky was clear and bright with diamondlike stars; Ryn scanned the Hestian heavens. Astronomy is an important subject for a Chronosian spacer, as it is for sailors; it is an unfailing method of navigation. Being a squad leader meant that this was especially important. Ryn could recognize the star pattern from any hemisphere of any of Xyll's planets, and knew enough stars to approximate her position anywhere in the Xyll system space. She looked up at the sky of Hestia's southern hemisphere.

Three stars in particular caught her eye. One was the nearby sun Sol, Xyll's partner system. All contact with Sol had been lost when Kashoku Lobelia broke the Star Crystal. Ryn was sure that Queen Senzo's daughter Serenity-hime, who showed so much promise as future queen, understood the action. However, Senzo was too focused on her public image. Serenity-hime, Ryn was sure, would be the greatest queen the Sol system had ever known.

The second star was Polaris. Silver and sparkling, it could be seen from anywhere in the Xyll system and was the first thing every spacer learned in astronomy. It shone light on long-buried memories of Ryn's teacher, Bridgit. Bridgit had been like a parent to Ryn - if not a _mother_ exactly, then a primary authority figure. She hadn't shown up at Ryn's trial, however, and that had crushed the pilot's faith in her.

However, it was the third star that Ryn watched longingly. This was not really a star, but Ptah. Ptah had been but was no longer the moon of Chronos, since there was no longer any Chronos to be a moon of.

"And you're dead," Ryn said out loud to the empty air. "Chronos is gone. Everyone I knew there is gone." She'd only known her squad and her teacher personally, but they had been her life. "Almost a trillion people are dead. Because of Kiraino."

She was walking, walking purposelessly across the cool grass. "Hades," Ryn continued, a hint of anger coloring the edge of her voice. "You could have been Sailor Chronos and saved the planet! You were the Queen!"

The palace was far away by now. Ryn sat down in the thick grass and stared up at Ptah. It winked, as though mocking her.

"What do I fight for?" the pilot demanded, glaring at Ptah. "I want Kiraino dead. Her death would have saved so many! You should have realized that, Hades - but then, maybe you did. Maybe you also thought that it can't be any worse to kill a trillion people than to murder one. Well, I would kill that one to save that trillion. The trillion that you let die - was it just to keep your own hands clean?"

Ryn looked down and shook her head. "Are those trillion deaths on your conscience, Hades? Or are they on mine, for not convincing you? Why can't they just be on Kiraino's filthy hands? Why can't life be that simple? Hestia's barbecue, Hades, why-"

Ryn cut off in astonishment as a beam of silver light shot from Ptah to end, shining primly, in the grass in front of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea why, given the ongoing war and massive death rates, the cunning demoralization tactic Deorc used on Florenity was "hey, you're fat."
> 
> (I have no idea about a lot of this chapter, for that matter.)
> 
> Deorc's name doesn't mean anything; it's just supposed to sound like "dark." By this point BSSM had revealed that Wiseman was a Chaos-avatar, but I hadn't gotten the message yet. So for purposes of this story he's part of a more mundane shadowy trickster-race.
> 
> Not Gratuitous For Once, IMO, Japanese:  
> "hoshizuishou" (star crystal)
> 
> Gratuitous Japanese:  
> "senzo" (ancestor)
> 
> Mary Sue Checklist for Ryn:  
> (x) Randomly breaks into poetic phrases  
> (x) Feels great personal guilt over a tragedy that was manifestly not her fault


	12. Part Eleven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Ryn takes a visit to the Department of Backstory, our heroes confront their communication problems, and a dead woman returns...twice.

A beam of light shot down from the point of light in the sky that was Ptah. It landed in the grass before a startled Ryn and widened to light up a circle of grass about ten centimeters across.

The pilot bent down to look at the base of the beam, and a bright little form appeared in it. It was a miniature hologram of ... of...

"Queen Hades-san?" asked Ryn in astonishment.

"Aeriannity-chan?" asked Hades in turn.

"No, no, I'm not Aeriannity. I'm Ryn. Can't you see that?"

"I must apologize, but I _can't_ ," Hades replied. "I am the memories and persona of the Queen of Chronos, sustained by the machinery within Ptah; I am unable to receive light transmissions, only sound. There is very little power to be had in the far reaches of the Xyllian solar system; you must talk quickly. What were you saying when you set this in motion?"

"I was ..." Ryn paused, then decided to tell the truth. A dead woman deserved that much. "I was condemning you for not becoming Sailor Chronos yourself, and killing Kiraino when you had the chance."

The Queen nodded. Her thick dark green locks waved gently in a nonexistent wind, a constant reminder that she was not truly there. "I'm sorry to say that I can understand your feelings ... but what is done is done, and I cannot undo it. Nobody can, except Sailor Pluto, and she is not permitted to."

"I see ... would you like to talk to Rose-hime? She's the leader of the Sailor Senshi ..."

Hades started visibly. Odd, that a hologram would bother to put in details like that, but it was supposed to be an accurate reproduction of her ... "How many Sailor Soldiers have awakened?"

"Four-"

"More than I'd hoped - and so quickly, the computer has kept time you see, so I know - Hestia's barbecue, I wish I could contact Pluto-san! You'll have to find the fifth, and quickly. Something entered this stellar system while there was no Chronos to protect it: a Bakasu. She will target you, and it will take at the _very_ least five sailors to destroy her."

"This Bakasu ... does she work for Kiraino?" asked Ryn, thankful to get a word in edgewise around the queen's extremely rapid talking.

"There is no other reason that she would have come here-"

For once, Ryn cut Hades off. "And how am I meant to 'awaken' the final sailor? Your daughter is missing, presumed dead, in case you hadn't realized! Let us not forget that the sailors transform with the pieces of the Hoshizuishou - of which there are only four! What do you presume _I_ can do about this?"

Hades jumped in. "Look at me, Ryn," she snapped, reaching up and beginning to twist her holographic hair. She braided and twisted with astonishing deftness, although probably her holographic state facilitated that, and then passed a hand over her face. Lipstick and rouge vanished, replaced by a deep tan and what looked almost like an altering of her actual cheekbones for all the difference it made in her face.

The spacer stared at her Queen's makeover, then whispered in breathless awe, "Bridgit-sensei?!"

Hades nodded. "I have a special reason for looking out for you, Ryn-san," she said firmly to the astonished spacer, "and after getting you into the Academy I taught you for years. At the time I was not yet Queen, and let us not forget that I looked vastly different as well..." The pilot was growing more speechless by the minute. "...you see, I know you, Ryn-san, and I know what you are capable of."

Ryn was about to speak, but Hades cut her off before the first sound could leap from her mouth to face the world. "I don't know if Chronos' power is lost forever. I'm almost completely out of touch with what's going on today. But remember - Ptah is still there. There is still power in this moon that I am speaking to you from..."

"Bridgit-sensei. Queen." It was so hard to call her Queen when she was the spitting image of her younger self! "Why did you find me guilty?" She didn't say _at the treason trial_ , but both queen and spacer knew what was meant.

"I could do nothing else," Hades replied cryptically. She looked as though she were about to explain, but the hologram flickered. "Remember the Bakasu. Remember me as I was when I was young. Remember-"

She faded away, the sound dissolving into a faint crackle and then silence.

* * *

Florenity and Helenity stood in the palace comm center, watching the main computer boot up. "Is this a normal amount of time or is it taking long?" Florenity called to Geode, who was fixing up one of the backup power stations.

He looked up. "How's that? Oh - don't worry, this is normal for a computer of this size trying to get started on this power. Good thing it's a continuous flow system. If it needed all the power at once, we'd never get it going."

Florenity didn't quite follow the technical side of that, but she relaxed a little and looked up at the screen. She'd been wearing borrowed pants for most of her time on Hestia (the most obvious exception being when she was Sailor Dido), but now she was wearing a simple yet elegant dark blue dress. She knew a princess in slacks would scandalize her father, King Lycus Acerbas.

"There it goes," said Helenity with a grin in her voice, and Florenity looked at the two-meter high screen hopefully. It displayed a quiet little box of information at eye level: _'Ready to process. Please enter call recipient and specifications.'_

The Didoan princess stared helplessly at the massive comm keyboard. "I don't understand any of this!" she almost wailed.

Helenity laughed and stepped forward. "Don't worry; I could make this call with my eyes shut," she assured her companion, and began typing. Audio and visual - life size - medium high priority - Florenity watched each perimeter set quickly and deftly. She was impressed.

"What's the code for the main comm center of the Didoan palace?" asked the teal-haired princess suddenly.

"Oh - um ..." Florenity considered this, and then realized something disturbing. "I have no idea."

She was rewarded with an astonished look, but Helenity didn't waste much time on being startled. She turned quickly to Geode, who, as it turned out, knew the major codes for every planet. Helenity only knew all the Hestian codes (except for private homes, but they ran on a different system anyway) and a few for military forces of other planets.

The comm crackled for a moment, and a thin blue bar appeared in the lower left of the screen. Florenity waited breathlessly as a teal color slid over the blue, representing the progress of the system in forming a connection, as it showed ten percent, twenty, fifty, seventy, eighty, ninety-

"Peace upon you - this had better truly be medium high," snapped a gruff, no-nonsense voice, "or you'll be prosecuted! We have enough trouble as is without having to deal with people who think their problems are most important!"

"Peace upon you. What's going on?" demanded Florenity - and suddenly her meek, technophobe exterior was replaced by an attitude that could only be described as _princessly._

"P-princess?!" spluttered the officer whose face had appeared on their screen. "What's going on? Where are you? Are you all right?"

"You ought to be able to tell _somehow_ that this call is from Hestia," replied Florenity, with a hint of irritation at the officer as well as the system. "I'm in the Hestian palace with the other princesses, peace upon them, and some friends; we're safe. I'm a Sailor Soldier - Sailor Dido - and other Sailor Soldiers are here too. Now, tell me what's going on on my planet."

After a few more splutters, the officer succumbed to Florenity's authoritative glare. "There's something of a war going on, Princess," he explained. "Kiraino Ouhi, peace upon her victims, has launched a kind of invasion, but all she's used to attack are fairly weak youma that a single strong human can dispatch.

"The catch here is that there are millions of these youma, and they keep coming, so all our military resources are occupied keeping them at bay - we've been forced to relegate cases without deaths as secondary priorities! It's awful. The King, peace upon him, is beside himself."

"Would it be possible for me to speak to him?" asked Florenity.

"I - perhaps - we received an anonymous note that you'd been kidnapped, thank the Goddess it was a bluff!" Florenity nodded grimly; the officer was referring to relief that they didn't have to deal with a search for her as much as relief for her well-being. She didn't mind - she could hardly blame him, considering the state her planet was in. "I'll send him a summons, but there's no guarantee he'll follow it up."

"I understand. Please make it known to all that your princess is safe and well and opposing the threat of Kiraino in the most effective way she possibly can," the Didoan heir dictated.

"Very well. May I put you on hold until we have the king's response, Princess? We need these lines open..."

"You certainly may," came the reply, and the screen went dark purple.

Florenity turned around and realized that Helenity - who had been standing just out of the area that was broadcasted over the comm - was staring at her openmouthed. "What is it?" the purple-haired girl asked, worried that she'd made some colossal mistake.

"I ... I didn't realize you could _do_ that!" Helenity finally got out. "You're going to make an incredible queen - the way you handled that was simply magnificent!"

Florenity smiled, not quite sure what else to do. She had always been expected to wield her authority thus; nobody had ever told her it was exceptional before. "It's not like that would be worth anything if you hadn't known how to make the call," she pointed out. "Where did you get so quick at it?"

"Promise you won't tell anyone?" The Didoan princess looked puzzled, but nodded. "I used to fly a fighter plane in the Hestian military. I was in the alpha squad, the elite, the equivalent of Ryn on her planet. I don't want this getting out to the rest of the royal community, so keep it quiet ..."

"That's amazing," said Florenity sincerely.

Helenity sighed. "Ursula doesn't think so ... she didn't even believe me this afternoon, when I was telling her how I fought in the final Hestian battle with Kiraino ..."

The purple-haired princess' face hardened. "She was wrong. I don't believe I'll speak to her until she comes to terms with that fact." In the background, Geode listened quietly, frowning ...

* * *

Everyone else seemed to be taking sides similarly at a similarly alarming rate. What brought Ryn back to the castle was a massive crash, which brought everybody else running as well no matter how much they disliked the proximity to certain other people.

A tree had toppled, for no apparent reason; it was a massive eighty-foot krenn, one of the few non-orchard trees on the castle grounds - and probably one of the few remaining of its kind, come to think of it.

"How could that tree possibly have fallen?!" exclaimed Helenity, staring at eighty feet of her planet's most famous native species of plant. "It's a _krenn._ Their roots can extend for up to half a mile. They don't just pull out of the ground and _fall_!"

Hovering in the background, Deorc decided not to interfere here. There were too many people to keep a separate audio stream for each one and have it continuous with who spoke when. Two people were manageable; twelve was too many.

Besides, tempers were so frayed that she was hardly needed anyhow...

"Hestia's barbecue, how should _I_ know?" demanded Jennifity, who was nearest. "It's _your_ planet."

"Didn't you learn _anything_ from those teachers of yours?" retorted Ursula. "They should've taught you the basics of biology on other Xyll planets."

"Ursula-chan, please," Geode said, attempting to calm things down. "If Helenity doesn't know this, you could hardly expect Jennifity to-"

"Exactly!" snapped the blonde princess. "Now why don't you get off my back about it?"

"Oh, flay you all!" cried Kichou, arriving on the scene. "Don't just stand there talking; go see for yourselves!"

"Kichou-san!" cried Florenity, scandalized. "Please, watch your language!" She worriedly took the hand of Moonie, who appeared to be somewhat paralyzed by the curses flying between these adults.

"Oh, so I suppose you think she's just doing it to look cool?" demanded Jennifity, turning on Florenity. "Did it ever occur to you that maybe this situation merits some strong language?!"

_"Minna-san, QUIET!!"_

The shouting abruptly stopped. Ryn stood at the edge of the orchard, glaring at them all. When she spoke again, it was in a clear and authoritative voice. "There is a Bakasu in this system, allied with Kiraino. She's been messing with your heads - specifically, your ears. Make sure you can trust what you hear before you believe it, because she's changing around what people are saying."

There was a slight pause, then Helenity narrowed her eyes. "How do you know this?"

"She's right," Aeneas cut her off. "Kiraino's companion was a Bakasu - I looked her up - but, Ryn-sama, how _did_ you know?"

"All in good time," replied Ryn cryptically. "If anybody could topple a krenn, a Bakasu could; she might very easily be listening."

"She's right," said a soft but firm and very familiar voice.

Every head turned to the direction from which this voice had come: Aeneas, Helenity, Florenity, Geode, Jennifity, Kichou, Mamorinuku, Moonie, Rose, Ryn, and Ursula. Eleven pairs of eyes went wide.

"Queen...Hades?" choked out Ursula after a moment.

The familiar figure nodded a head that had been printed on every Chronosian coin and was almost always on at least one Chronosian television station at any given time. She stepped forward from the fringe of the orchard, leaning on the tree for support. "Hello, Countess," she said with a smile. Hestia's first moon was rising, and silver light began to illuminate the gathering.

"How did you survive?" the Countess asked in a half-whisper. Moonie was half ready to break away from Florenity's handhold and dash over to hug her queen. Ryn, however, was suspicious. The others might be shocked to see the image of their presumed-dead queen, but she had been through that shock once that evening already.

"Queen," Ryn said sharply, cutting off Ursula. "Where do you know me from?"

The brow of the famous face furrowed. "You are Ryn ... the spacer whom I tried for treason two years ago ... the best pilot on Chronos, and the savior of most of the Chronosians who survived ..."

"Where else?" When the shadow-streaked figure didn't answer, Ryn added, in a surprisingly soft voice, "It's all right ... I already know ... you can say it."

There was a pause. The face framed by the regal green tresses looked blank.

Before anybody knew what was happening, Ryn had whipped a gun from its holster in her boot and fired - with feline speed and perfect accuracy - at the heart of the woman who stood before them. The body of Queen Hades of Chronos toppled backwards.

Nobody moved, although ten pairs of eyes darted over to look at Ryn in shock. Then Ursula broke out of it and hurried over to kneel by the fallen figure, with Moonie right behind her. "Why did you do that?" demanded an astonished Rose - Rose, who had seen the death of another Queen and her mother besides. "Hestia's barbecue, Ryn, why did you..."

She broke off as the body of Queen Hades started to move, and then, slowly and staggardly, raised itself to its elbows. "Queen - are you - ?" began Ursula.

"Very clever, spacer girl," came a hiss from the regal mouth in a voice that quite definitely did _not_ belong to Queen Hades.

"Eep!" squeaked Moonie, and darted back to the rest of the company, running backwards. Ursula was slower to react; the elegant Countess got to her feet and took a few steps backwards.

"Get out of Hades' body," snapped Ryn, addressing what the moonlight now revealed to be a corpse. To the princesses she added simply: "Transform."

"Rhea-" began Rose, and the other girls shook off their shock and followed suit.

"Dido-"

"Hestia-"

"Antigone-"

"Crystal Power, MAKE UP!" shouted four voices to the heavens.

Absolutely nothing happened.

Ryn's gaze shot from the four pink fragments of the Hoshizuishou to the black shadowy shape which was extracting itself from the dead body of Queen Hades. "Are you-" she began, but before the phrase had time to complete itself all four crystals started glowing their respective colors.

"... what's going on?" murmured Helenity, half to herself, half to nobody in particular.

"Have all four of you ever transformed simultaneously before?" hesitated Geode. Jennifity shook her head.

Then the four points of color became connected by lines of shimmering multicolored light...the lines multiplied and fragmented and became a rainbow disk with the crystals in it ... all four princesses had dropped their arms to their sides, but the crystals continued to float ... even the Bakasu was staring, too unsure to do anything at the moment...

The disk of light abruptly shrunk to the size of a palm, and dropped to the ground - it was no longer made of rainbow light, but green metal. It was a sort of locket, with a small replica of the Star Crystal protruding from the front. Miniature crystals nestled between the points of the star: pink, yellow, teal-blue, purple, orange.

The black substance of the Bakasu surged forward, straight at the locket, as the four Star Crystal pieces dropped innocently back into the hands of their respective wielders. All four stared blankly at them - and then in an abrupt flash they were in their sailor forms. Ryn meanwhile also sprinted towards the locket, which sat unobtrusively in the Hestian grass, reflecting moonlight.

"Hopeful Blaze!" cried Sailor Hestia. The others were quick to follow suit; they were getting somewhat accustomed to being shocked beyond belief.

"Flower Hurricane!" Both attacks forestalled the Bakasu for a moment, and Ryn pounced on the locket and skidded through the grass clutching it to her chest.

"Ryn-sama - are you all right?" cried Sailor Rhea, turning...

... and a beam of light shot from the crystal on her chest to meet with a ankh traced in brightly shining viridian on Ryn's forehead.

It was the pilot's turn to be shocked - and it was Moonie's joyful shout that brought her back to reality: "Ryn's a sailor senshi!" Then the holographic Hades' words echoed in her mind: "There is still power in this moon..."

"Ptah," murmured Ryn, staring at the locket in her hand. It winked moonlight at her.

"Prism Power," the spacer added.

The Bakasu dodged the further attacks of Sailors Hestia and Dido and aimed for Ryn.

"Make ... Up!"

A blazing pillar of light erupted over Ryn...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not even calling bad astronomy on that hologram. That was clearly magic. Magic laughs in the face of lightspeed.
> 
> The visual of four star crystal fragments to summon the Ptah Locket was meant as a callback to the way the Three Talismans summon the Holy Grail.
> 
> Mary Sue Checklist for Ryn:  
> (x) Super-secretly mentored by the Queen Herself  
> (x) Is a bonus extra never-before-seen senshi  
> (x) Not only named after author, but author's username is after her
> 
> ...For the record, I do really like the whole "our team's down a senshi? With our powers combined, we'll create a new one!" plot development. There's nothing quite like it in any of the other otaku senshi team!fic I've read...and I have read a *lot* of them. It's only in combination with everything else on the Checklist that it starts to look not so great.


	13. Part Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which the sailors face their first battle as a full team, Kiraino suffers through the indignity of having to get out of her chair, and the screen fades in on the final boss round...

A blazing pillar of light erupted over Ryn ...

Deorc surged at the pillar, but was met with a fierce kick by a booted foot - the energy of the transformation faded away, leaving a Sailor Soldier in a fuku of pink and a slightly bluish green.

 _The colors of Lethe and Mnemosyne,_ thought Sailor Antigone ...

"You manipulated our conversation to stir up dissent - you allied yourself with a woman who has no qualms about killing innocents - you used the body and image of our beloved Queen - you were deceitful and cruel and you will never, never as long as I live, get away with it!" declared the newly transformed Ryn, advancing on the Bakasu.

"Gem Encrustation!" cried Sailor Antigone, and a shell of golden crystal encased Deorc's smoky substance. By now the soldiers' non-sailor allies had retreated to behind the fallen krenn to watch the battle from a relatively safe place.

Deorc formed a face in her shape long enough to sneer at them, then the crystal shell exploded, sending shards flying everywhere. "Gem Encrustation!" cried Antigone quickly, forming a wall of crystal between the sailors and the explosion. Bits of yellow stone peppered the makeshift shield. "That would've held one of Kiraino's generals in check," Antigone hissed to the others.

"All together now," said Sailor Hestia shortly. She stepped out from behind the crystal wall and shouted, "Hopeful Blaze!"

"Flower Hurricane!" cried Sailor Dido, doing likewise.

"Dust Bunnies Fly!" shrilled Sailor Rhea, hurling an extra-strong flood of gray rabbits.

"Gem Encrustation!" yelled Sailor Antigone, but instead of forwarding a wall of crystal she sent forth what looked like a spear of it.

Sailor Ptah narrowed her eyes and raised her hands, elbows spread, over the locket which had rested one her chest in the same place as the other sailors' crystals. A sphere of viridian energy flickered into being, flashing like a strobe light, and expanding rapidly. When it was the size of a basketball, she propelled it forward wordlessly.

Deorc let out a horrible screech, and her smoky substance dissipated. But she wasn't gone - she had merely been relieved of her physical self for the moment. A chuckle echoed through all of the soldiers' minds.

Then a murmur echoed through Rose's head most clearly: "Some sailor soldier you are...you couldn't even save your own mother. You left her to die ..."

Sailor Rhea dropped to her hands and knees - meanwhile, Deorc had already approached Sailor Hestia. "You're just a girl," she hummed. "You can't even fly a fighter plane ... not well enough to save your planet, that is; getting shot down doesn't help anybody ..." Sailor Hestia in turn dropped to her knees and clutched her head.

"Sto-" began Sailor Antigone, but she was next: "You, the only remaining person who could take the throne of your planet, refuse it? How can you call yourself anything except an outright traitor?" And then, before she could say anything, Sailor Dido was targeted as well: "How can you be away from your planet, not defending it? Do you realize that your father is dying? And your pet - Kishaa has also died, from neglect - which is not so different from the reason why brave soldiers lose their lives each day..."

Bakasu have a special talent for targeting the weaknesses of mortals. Deorc played on their guilt; another well-known Bakasu, the self-styled Wiseman, preferred to manipulate the fears and dreams of humans. Although each one is different from another, they always use some sort of psychological attack. Deorc turned on Sailor Ptah, who looked resigned to her fate.

"When push comes to shove," murmured Deorc, most clearly to Ryn's ears, "you're worthless. You could hardly save anybody from the Chronosian explosion - and now, you wait at this castle, hesitating to attack, when every moment means another life lost? You attempted to be loyal to your planet, through twisted actions that end with you labeled a traitor - were you bitter? Is that it? Did you want your revenge on the planet that spurned you?"

Had she possessed a physical body, Deorc would have been staring openmouthed: Sailor Ptah had not collapsed in the manner of her companions. She was still standing, smiling a grim but triumphant smile.

"You're lyin'!" came a shrill yell from the direction of Moonie. "Ryn-sama was the best of everybody, and she did everything she could to save Chronos! I was there! I know! It's bad to lie, so stop it!"

"She's right, you know," Ptah said, still with that curious smile on her face. "I have more loyalty to that planet than anybody alive; if you dared look deep enough into my mind, you would realize that."

A shriek seared the night air.

"It's not traitorous to deny the throne," Ptah continued. "No task is unimportant - and the child of the previous Queen is not the only feasible future Queen. The art of air battling is difficult to master, but it takes a damn good fighter to shoot down many of the opponent until many of _them_ have to collaborate to shoot _her_ down. It's been said that a single person can make all the difference if they're in the right place at the right time - this is the right place, and now is the right time, and there's nothing we can do on Dido. Nor can we do anything for Queen Lobelia; she made her own choice, and she was wise to do so."

Another shriek - and the watchers realized that it was coming from Deorc. Sailor Ptah had taken the battle fully into Deorc's territory, the mind, rather than trying in vain to best her physically. Her sensible words had muted the pain in the other girls' heads; they were all slowly rising to their feet again.

"Ptah Prism Power," murmured Sailor Ptah.

"Dido Crystal Power..."

"Hestia Crystal Power..."

"Rhea Crystal Power..."

"Antigone Crystal Power..."

The five sailor soldiers glowed in their respective auras as they chorused, "Sailor ... Planet ... ATTACK!!"

Nothing visible happened, but a final shriek pierced the night.

"...is she gone?" asked Sailor Rhea hesitantly.

Sailor Antigone closed her eyes and clasped her piece of the Star Crystal. "Yes ... I don't feel her anymore," she assured the others. Then she turned to face the krenn trunk. "You all can come out now!" she called, grinning.

Sailor Hestia detransformed in a swirl of teal, then looked in disbelief at Sailor Ptah. "I never would have guessed," the princess confessed. "Ryn - how did you know what to say, what to do?"

Sailor Ptah also detransformed in a swirl of viridian and pink, and smiled wryly at Helenity. "The same way you knew what to say when you first transformed, of course. I just _knew_."

And as their companions approached, and the other girls detransformed and began talking, Ryn was struck by a sudden realization.

_Hades had known._

When the Chronosian queen had said "I know what you are capable of ..." She had had no doubt that Ryn would be able to find the fifth sailor senshi ... because _she had known_ that Ryn was, not Sailor Chronos, but the sailor for the fifth celestial body in orbit around the star Xyll.

"Flay you, Hades," murmured Ryn under her breath, but she couldn't help smiling.

* * *

The crash echoed through Kiraino Ouhi's mothership. It was the sound of a crystal ball which, having been thrown across the room, had suffered an argument with the wall of the throne room - and lost.

Kiraino was still seething. She snapped her fingers, and a bell rang; a moment later, a small youma scurried in. "How is the attack on Dido going?" demanded the Queen of Hate.

"w-well Kiraino-s-sama - it -" The youma faltered. "w-we-"

"Out with it," said Kiraino firmly, resting her chin in her hand, elbows set on the arms of her throne.

"w-we are l-losing ba-badly, K-Kiraino-sama," the youma whispered. "th-the youma are t-t-too weak to h-hold out a-against the h-human tr-troops," it stuttered, then cringed. It had good reason to cringe; Kiraino held up one hand and called together the powers of death and darkness, and with one blast the youma was reduced to a smoking hole in the floor.

"Double the troops - triple the troops!" she shrieked. "And dump those worthless encased generals on Antigone - I have no use for them."

Her shouts did not reach the other youma on the ship. Kiraino sighed and stood up. She _hated_ having to walk about her spaceship, but desperate times called for desperate measures...

* * *

Morning dawned bright and early on Hestia. The four system princesses and Ryn, on the other hand, did not rise until the sun was well over the horizon. However, once they were all up, fed, and refreshed, the decision was unanimous: They could spend no more time playing or relaxing. Deorc's claims were cruel and exaggerated, but she had made several good points.

Five Sailor Soldiers linked hands, preparing to teleport.

Somewhere else entirely, a spell network glowed purple - the trademark color of Metallia's servants.

The sailors didn't have a chance to activate their Sailor Teleport, because they were abruptly somewhere that was cold and dry and very very icy.

"Where on Xyll and all the planets are we?" demanded Sailor Hestia of nobody in particular. The cold stillness seemed to muffle her voice into insignificance.

"Somewhere cold," proposed Sailor Dido unnecessarily. "One of the polar regions, perhaps?"

Sailor Ptah stepped back from the circle and looked out across the snowy landscape. "We didn't do this - Kiraino brought us here. That rules out the poles of Rhea; she wouldn't be there yet. Besides, those and the Didoan poles are warmer than this."

"Can't be an Antigonese pole, north or south," Sailor Antigone assured them. "The landscape's all wrong."

"So we're on Hestia. North or south pole?" asked Sailor Rhea.

"South," replied Sailor Hestia. "The north pole has several living species - even if ..." She paused, then steeled herself and went on. "Even if they've all been wiped out, we'd see signs that they existed."

"Come out and face us!" called Sailor Ptah to the white expanse. Her voice didn't seem to carry very far; the resulting feeling was of being very small and insignificant. Sailor Rhea shivered; the sailor fuku had proved far warmer than it first looked, but she most of all of them was not used to such a chill climate.

"Are you calling me?" asked a dulcet voice with faux innocence.

Out of the icy wasteland stepped a surprisingly mundane-looking young woman. She appeared to be about Countess Ursula's age, with long glossy almost-black hair gathered in two rippling tails down her back and pale skin that echoed the lightness of the snow she stood in. The deep purple dress she wore left her shoulders bare, but she didn't seem at all cold. Large silver stones, with the occasional chain of small black beads, were the only decoration she wore.

"I ..." Ptah paused, considering. She'd thought she would instantly know Kiraino on sight; she'd assumed there would be some sort of aura of indescribable evil emanating from her. But she could not have picked this woman out of a similarly attired crowd. "I don't believe we've met," she concluded.

The woman smiled. "In battle we have, spaceplane pilot Ryn of Chronos. However, we have not had the pleasure of meeting in person yet. Allow me to introduce myself: The name I am known by in this system is Kiraino Ouhi. I already know you five; I brought you here for the purpose of having you removed."

"Good luck," snapped Antigone sarcastically. "We're hard to kill."

"I am discovering that," agreed the Queen of Hate. "So you see why I have taken over the job personally."

"That, and you're out of lackeys to do it for you," added Hestia.

Kiraino smiled wryly. "Quite a wise assessment, Hestia no Hime. Would you girls like the privilege of the first attack?"

The 'girls' exchanged glances - they didn't trust Kiraino farther than they could have thrown her spaceship in Chronosian gravity - but wordlessly agreed that it couldn't do any harm to strike the first blow. Sailor Hestia cupped her hands together, and a blue flame appeared between them. "Hopeful Blaze!" she shouted when the flame had grown to a suitable size, and thrust it forward at Kiraino.

Blue-white fire from the Starfire Sailor's hands flew scorchingly past and around Kiraino, leaving the snow and ice around her wet and steaming. But the Queen of Hate seemed unscathed; she merely smiled and held up a gun.

Sailor Rhea was struck by a sudden fierce feeling of _that's not fair; she should fight with her magic, as we fight with ours_. But she couldn't exactly enforce that. Instead, she dropped to the ground as Kiraino fired.

It was Ptah who saved them then: her reflexes were better than any of theirs with the possible exception of Helenity, and she was certainly accustomed to guns. She shoved Sailor Rhea down, dodged a bullet herself, and, as their opponent squeezed the trigger again, shouted, "Lunar Eclipse!!" Rather than bothering to build up a large sphere, she simply hurled it, using the verbal cue to make it more forceful. The strobe-light sphere of energy hit the gun directly, and there was a modest explosion.

"Very clever, Ryn," said Kiraino - she was still standing normally, but her gun was now so many black puddles in the snow and water around her. "I suppose this makes it my turn to attack, then?"

"No," snapped Antigone. "You shot two bullets. We should get two chances for attack."

"But the bullets were part of the same attack," argued Kiraino.

"But you had two chances to damage us-"

Sailor Dido cut the debate short by deciding the question for them: "Flower Hurricane!" A torrent of flowers slammed into Kiraino, wind whipping them about.

The sky began to darken as the Queen of Hate smiled again - but the scratch on her cheek belied her facade of imperviousness. "Go on," she said, "continue to attack. I will be ready."

"Dust Bunnies Fly!" shouted the Lapine Sailor.

"Gem Encrustation!" Again Antigone's crystal formed a sharp lance.

Kiraino was hit twice and clearly affected this time, but she continued with that maddening smile. "Now it is my turn," she said smoothly, and the sky turned black. Out of nowhere the Queen of Hate conjured an ebony-black crystal as sharp as the Topaz Sailor's had been a moment ago, and hurled it with perfect aim at Hestia.

"Gem Encrustation!" This time the jewels built a wall in front of the teal-haired sailor; the black crystal smashed through it, but lost its momentum in the process and bumped into Hestia's Hoshizuishou fragment harmlessly before falling to the ground. Another crystal was meanwhile speeding towards Ptah; she cried "Lunar Eclipse!" and held the viridian sphere between her body and Kiraino's spear. The energy disintegrated the crystal.

More spears were being thrown, however - and the deep shadows over everything made it that much harder to tell where they were coming from. "On a purely physical basis, she can beat us!" murmured Dido to the others as Antigone created a specially strong wall of crystal that would hold out for a minute or two.

"I'm not sure we could get to her on a mental basis," noted Ptah. "With that Bakasu she was already a being of mental energy - but Kiraino's as physical as we are."

"We can't do this," murmured Rhea, looking from one face to another. "We don't have a single advantage over her!"

"Yes, we do," replied Hestia abruptly. In response to quizzical looks, she replied, "Our unity. That's why Queen Lobelia smashed the Hoshizuishou - she said the sailors that resulted could defeat Kiraino _together,_ even though the Star Crystal alone could not."

Dido nodded. "Dido Crystal Power..."

"Hestia Crystal Power..." "Rhea Crystal Power..." "Antigone Crystal Power..." "Ptah Prism Power..."

When their makeshift wall fell in response to a barrage of black crystal, the sailors were ready: "Sailor Planet ATTACK!!" Rainbow-hued energy amassed and poured over to overwhelm Kiraino Ouhi, who screamed as it detonated around her.

But when the light faded, she had not given up yet.

"All right," said Ptah sharply, "this has gone far enough." And she leapt over the remains of the crystal wall, splashed through the ice-cold water that had still not frozen, and threw a series of light-fast punches at Kiraino.

The Queen of Hate was clearly startled, but responded to Ptah's sparring with equally skilled blocks and retaliations. She couldn't throw crystals at this range, but neither could Ptah pause to create a Lunar Eclipse without giving Kiraino sufficient time to get in a critical hit. They were evenly matched.

"Goddess help us, we can't get in Kiraino's way without getting in Ryn's!" exclaimed Sailor Hestia, distraught.

"But we can help Ryn," realized Rhea. She grabbed the piece of the Star Crystal that rested on her chest and tore it away from the fabric of her sailor fuku, then thrust it in Ptah's direction. Pink light streamed from the crystal and into the sparring sailor.

Dido followed suit, and purple light poured from her own crystal to energize Ptah. Golden light flowed from Antigone's crystal into her ally and friend. Sailor Hestia was the last; teal energy poured into Ptah, who glowed all four hues and then bright white, lighting up the dark pole. Light reflected off of the snow and ice, brightening everything up further...

Kiraino, however, was glowing black - contrary as that might seem - and matching Ptah block for punch, punch for block ...

The four pieces of the Star Crystal tore themselves from the hands of their respective owners and flew into Sailor Ptah's hand, and a fierce beam of light extended from them - it had become a glowing sword, with the Hoshizuishou forming its hilt.

Ptah hesitated only a moment. Kiraino hesitated a moment and a half. In that half a moment, she found she had a sword embedded in her heart and extending through to pierce out of her back...

Then it was Ptah's turn to hesitate - and Kiraino, before collapsing, seized the opportunity to thrust a final spear of dark crystal through her opponent's heart. Both fell. Blood pooled on the empty snow.

The other four Sailor Soldiers were at Ptah's side in an instant. Her sailor fuku faded into her brown spaceplane pilot's uniform, and a ghost of a smile crossed Ryn's face. "You'll ... be all right ..." she murmured.

"Ryn-sama ... don't go ... RYN-SAMA!" cried Sailor Rhea. But the spacer's eyes had closed. "This can't be happening," moaned Sailor Dido. "I mean, if it were anybody else, I could understand but - this is _Ryn_ -"

And then the world flickered out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summoning the senshi to an arctic landscape for your final battle is another example of the Done Thing. That would be why Kiraino didn't just summon them into the middle of outer space...and why she hasn't used her summoning powers to any other useful effect throughout the series. You've got to have protocol for these things, you know.
> 
> I do kind of adore that she brings a gun to a magic fight. And that it fails because one of her opponents only got magic powers yesterday, and has been relying on mundane weapons since forever. There's some clear foreshadowing to my eventual love of Madoka Magica in this one.
> 
> Mary Sue Checklist for ~~Ryn~~ Sailor Ptah:  
>  (x) Doesn't need to say her attack name  
> (x) Still gets her own fangirl cheering section  
> (x) Can dodge bullets  
> (x) Personally delivers the killing blow, using apparently equal measures of the Power of Friendship and the power of GAR  
> (x) Anyone else can die (and indeed have, by the billions), but not her!


	14. Finale

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which, after all the battles have been won, our heroines come to their reward.

Rose was sitting in a garden of pink and gray flowers, garbed in her official royal dress. She couldn't fathom why she was there; she finally came to the conclusion that it must be a dream, because her dress was back on her planet - if it hadn't been burned or destroyed - and who ever heard of gray flowers?

She felt a touch on her shoulder, and gasped - but it was only a young man, a few years older than Mamorinuku, with glossy pink hair of a darker shade than her own. "Who are you?" she asked after a moment.

He smiled. "I am your father's mother's father, and the former Keeper of the Star Crystal."

Rose gasped again. "How - shouldn't you be dead?" she asked stupidly.

"In the normal sense of the word, I am. However, I am tied to the Star Crystal: as long as I am its Keeper, I will be reincarnated constantly. I am here to pass that job on."

"The job of Keeper, you mean? To who -" Rose paused and thought for a heartbeat. "Me?"

Her great-grandfather nodded. "You are the first of my descendants with the ability to connect with the Crystal. You will do well with it." He sat down next to her and slipped a ring with a pink tourmaline set in it on her finger. "Be safe, Keeper of the Star Crystal."

 

* * *

Helenity was warming herself by a blue fire in a palace fireplace, wearing her pilot's uniform. It would have been suicidal to wear that uniform in her real palace, so she had surmised that this must be a dream; besides, why would the normal fire of a fireplace be the blue-white of her attack?

She felt a touch on her shoulder and jerked her head around - but it was only a miniature woman, too large to be a fairy but with the same proportions, and far too small to be human. Her pleated white dress and the gold medallions in her hair were familiar ...

"Hestia," she said after a moment. "Goddess Hestia. It is you, is it not?"

The miniature goddess nodded and smiled. "It is indeed."

"But aren't you dead? I mean - I know goddesses can't really die, but ... "

"I have been restored enough to return to your realm of existence, yes. Every time you created your fire, you energized me," the brunette goddess replied. "Your star system's crystal, the Hoshizuishou, has been restored to its full form. Therefore, I have come to give you something."

"Why ... what is it?"

"Hold out your hand." A bemused Helenity did so, and the fairy-goddess slid a ring with a jasper set in it onto her finger. "Your ability to become your planet's Sailor Avatar is locked in this ring. Be well, flamehearted pilot."

 

* * *

Florenity was playing her flute in a vast garden full of plants and flowers crowded together in no apparent order. The melody of the flute seemed to parallel the wind; when she played louder, it grew stronger, and when she played more softly it became a gentle breeze. Of course she had to be dreaming; how else could she control the wind, aside from her attack?

Something moved behind her, and she paused in her melody to look. The wind stilled, reducing the garden to an eerie calm. A young woman of about her age was standing behind her, wearing a very different fuku from the one Florenity was accustomed to but still recognizable for what it was: a sailor fuku.

"Who are you?" asked Florenity. Somewhere, somehow, another flute took up the melody, and a soft warm breeze blew.

The purple-haired girl in fuku smiled. "Your planet is my namesake," she said simply.

" ... you're Dido? The original colonist, Dido, the first Sailor Senshi of this stellar system?"

Dido smiled. "You know your history well."

"You should be dead, though, shouldn't you?"

"Of course I should!" replied Dido with a laugh. "But I am a special case ... I live on in the flora of this planet, the plants and flowers. I have manifested in this form because I have something to deliver to you."

Florenity blinked and set her flute gently on the leaf-carpeted ground. "What do you mean?"

"I will show you." Dido took Florenity's hand and set a ring with an amethyst in it on her finger. "The power of the flora is locked in this ring - the ability to become Sailor Dido, now that the Hoshizuishou is restored. Be strong, many-times-great granddaughter."

 

* * *

Jennifity was lounging in a makeshift bed in the sand. Around her stretched a desert as far as the horizon; she did not think to look for Xyll above. Instead, she examined the golden sand. it was made of crushed jewels; if one looked at it the right way, it shone with rainbow hues. Who could take such an extraordinary scenario as anything other than a dream?

A swirl of wind stirred up the gemstone dust behind her, and she turned to see who was there. In the topaz-colored sand stood a girl a few years younger than Jen herself. She looked familiar, as if she had dropped right out of a memory ...

"Ismene-chan," she said after a moment.

The girl's face split into a wide grin that had crossed Jen's own face hundreds of times. "Yep ... it's me."

"Imouto-chan? But you died. All of you did..."

Ismene nodded. "I'm technically dead ... but there was nobody else who qualified to do this, so I got the job. Cool, ne? And I get to see my big sister one more time!"

Jen nodded in reply, then choked and drew her sister into a tearful hug. "I've missed you so much ... Hestia's barbecue, you can't know how much I've missed you ..."

The young girl's eyes were brimming as well. "Yes, I can, big sister, and I don't have long ... I just have to deliver this to you ..." She pulled back and pressed a ring with a topaz set in it onto Jen's finger. "Now you can transform, even though the Hoshizuishou's back together. Be good, Onee-san ... "

 

* * *

Four noble girls who spent time as Sailor Soldiers awoke kneeling in the Hestian snow.

"I ... oh my," murmured a half-asleep Florenity. "I dreamed I met Dido, the woman that the planet is named for ... she gave me a ... " Her eyes snapped open as she felt her hand. "I have it! The ring - it was all real!"

"Me too," confessed Rose. "I got a ring ... in my dream I met my great-grandfather, and he said I was to be the next Keeper of the Star Crystal ... "

"I met the goddess Hestia," Helenity told the others. "And the ring - it's to transform, now that we can't use our Star Crystal pieces anymore?" Her companions nodded agreement.

"I ... " Jennifity faltered, blinked rapidly a few times, then went on. "I met my little sister. She's dead, but she came back, just for a little bit, just to give me that ring ... "

All four girls glanced at their hands, then looked down at the body sprawled beside them. "We ... we should bring her back to the castle ..." said Helenity after a moment. "She should have ... should have a decent ..." Then she paused, unable to get the word 'burial' out.

"I just can't think of her as dead," murmured Jennifity. "Hestia's barbecue, I can barely think of her as a Sailor Soldier ... it all happened so fast ..."

Rose reached for the sword with the Star Crystal as its hilt. "It's whole again," she murmured. "We don't even have to transform ... it can bring us to the castle. The Hoshizuishou's power is back." And the Keeper of the Star Crystal invoked a tiny fraction of its power to send them all back in a gentle flash of pink light.

* * *

"They're back!"

Moonie's voice echoed down the chambers of the royal palace of Hestia, and it didn't take long for everyone to gather in the courtyard, where a sad-looking quartet of princesses stood. Something was amiss. It was Kichou who first put her finger on it.

"Ryn ... where's Ryn?" she asked, then saw her. "Oh no..."

"Did you defeat Kiraino?" asked Geode hesitantly.

Florenity nodded. "She's dead ... Ryn killed her ... and right before she died, she managed to ..." She choked and couldn't finish. The gathered citizens of the five Xyllian planets were all quiet; even Moonie sensed that it would be wrong to interrupt this mark of respect for Ryn.

A familiar voice cut through the moment of silence. "She isn't gone."

It was Sailor Mnemosyne. She and Sailor Lethe were standing in the middle of the circle of people, appearing in the real world for the first time Jennifity had seen, although they were distinctly transluscent. "Do you know what the Ptah power is?" asked Sailor Lethe.

"It is that of Creation," continued Sailor Mnemosyne. "The opposite of the Saturn power, Destruction. When the Saturn soul dies, she is reborn. When the Ptah soul dies, she is meant to create a new soul as her last act, before she receives oblivion. I am one of the few living souls who remembers this."

"The Ptah soul known as Ryn did not receive oblivion," continued Sailor Lethe. "Instead of creating a new soul, she rebuilt her own. Why or how I cannot say; however, we are here to return her to you."

And a third figure appeared between the teal- and pink-clothed ones: Ryn, in a plain white dress that was thoroughly out-of-character for her. Not that anybody remarked on _that_ , of course. Sailors Lethe and Mnemosyne bowed in unison and vanished.

"...Ryn..." began Jennifity.

"...you're..." continued Florenity.

"...supposed..." added Helenity.

"...to be dead..." concluded Rose.

Ryn shot them a wry smile. "I'd think that, after what you four just saw, you wouldn't be so surprised at meeting someone you thought was dead," she said ironically. "Besides, I'm _not_ dead. Are these the hands of a dead girl?" And she held them out.

It was Kichou who reached out, hesitantly at first, and then gripped her former squad leader's palm firmly. "No," she said at last, "this is really you ..." She then turned to look in confusion at the body that still lay behind the four princesses, still in its pilot's uniform.

"You needn't worry about that," Ryn assured them all. "I have this body now ... an identical copy of the first except unharmed." Then she looked sincerely around at the amassed faces. "I'm all right."

And then the ice was broken, and a suitably joyful reunion ensued. "But Ryn-sama," whispered Helenity at some point, "how did you know what we four saw? Did you get a similar meeting with someone who you thought was dead - or did you see ours?"

Ryn smiled cryptically at her. "I met Sailor Chronos."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ring images aren't original; they were added this evening, courtesy of Google Image Search. The choices of stones were courtesy of an article about gemstones in the 1993 World Book Encyclopedia. RIP.
> 
> Gratuitous Japanese:  
> "imouto-chan" (little sister)  
> "onee-san" (big sister)
> 
> Mary Sue Checklist for Ryn:  
> (x) Not just any extra bonus senshi, she's an Epic-Level God Tier Bonus Senshi  
> (x) Blatant Jesus reference!
> 
> And For The Record, About Sailor Chronos:
> 
> The Princess of Chronos was time-and-space-shifted off-planet over a decade before the attack on the Xyll system began, courtesy of her own future self working together with Sailor Pluto.
> 
> She was supposed to get actual screen time in the Sequel That Never Happened. Had I known it was going to Never Happen, I would have avoided trying to keep up the suspense and written out Ryn's meeting scene here. The chat she has is with Sailor Pluto, accompanied by an unnamed senshi who wears a Xyll-style uniform but is way too old to be the (born-12-years-ago) missing princess...or so Ryn thinks, until she takes a look at the Key of Time and puts two and two together.
> 
> So imagine you just read something like that. And that it was solemn and moving and all that good stuff.
> 
> In the end, after Ryn reincarnates herself, Sailors Pluto and Chronos go back to having tea and commiserating about how much it sucks to be the Sailor Senshi of something that is not even a planet any more. Pause for audience laughter. Fade to black.


	15. Notes on the Sequel That Never Happened

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What would have followed. No actual story here, just the seeds of one: written in the present, going mostly on the memory of plans past.
> 
> Remember to [check out the index page](http://ptahrrific.dreamwidth.org/168460.html) for profiles, artwork, and other related links!

**If I Were To Write It Now:**

Looking at this story with the distance and perspective of time, the thematic conclusion seems pretty clear.

Ryn (I keep almost typing [Reseda](http://erinptah.com/catperson/cas/characters/), but that version's characterization has marched on post-name-change...it wouldn't be accurate to call this one anything but Ryn) needs to find a new goal now that her whole "kill Kiraino" life goal is fulfilled, and it would be particularly healthy for that goal to be creative rather than destructive. Just her luck, she's inherited the Ptah Power of Creation, a counterpart to the Saturn Power of Destruction.

Ergo, in a thematic counterpoint to the way Saturn brought down her glaive and ended the Silver Millennium, Ryn raises up her new brooch/sword/[insert shiny princess item here] and restores the Xyll System. After everything, it might be a copout to put Chronos back together, but she should at least create new bodies for a large proportion of the dead people. (Among other things, it would make the whole "partying in the deserted palace while <del>Rome burns</del> the war rages on" scenes less egregious.) Maybe include Florenity's pet, and, while she's at it, restore the Antigonese monarchy, make peace between the human population of Rhea and the <del>Gungans</del> eimei, and patch up the Hestian palace.

The last step would be to give Ptah an atmosphere, and whatever else it needs to become a habitable planet in its own right. Cue the founding of a new queendom, run by Ryn, open to all the Chronosian refugees and anyone else who feels like moving. From the Galaxy Cauldron, the now-defunct Sailor Chronos watches, and gives her approval before her starseed goes to its final sleep. Curtain.

Unfortunately, none of this is anything like what I was planning.

 

**What I Was Planning Then:**

The text of the story really fell down at conveying one major theme I had in mind: this was supposed to feel _apocalyptic_. All the planetary populations were supposed to be devastated by the end. While the Moon Kingdom seems to have been  knocked out in a single overwhelming shot through the head, the Xyll System was supposed to be in a knock-down, drag-out boxing match...and be dead on its feet by the time it struck the last blow.

Should've had more scenes of the senshi appearing on battlefields, singlehandedly beating back scores of youma footsoldiers only to learn of death tolls elsewhere. More looting, burned buildings, people fleeing into shelters and ad-hoc bunkers and the perceived safety of the countryside. More tangible evidence of all the political and social systems collapsing. At least more _allusion_ to all of this.

Fewer pillow fights.

The point is, once the bad guys are wiped clean from the system, what's left of the civilian population is a tattered wreck without any really appealing places to live anymore.

So they all pack up and evacuate to the Sol system.

Every Sailor Moon fan has a Silver Millennium epic in them at some point (whether or not it ever gets written); this was mine. The refugees from the various Xyll queendoms integrate, as immigrant populations, into the planetary societies of the Sol system. Saturn's (real-life) moon Rhea gets the name when it turns into the local equivalent of a Chinatown or Little Italy. This should be a recipe for all kinds of political and social turmoil, but I didn't bother with the worldbuilding there, reasoning that it would only have a decade or so to develop before it all became moot anyway.

(One thing I did have established: Ryn hangs out on Earth -- at the [Ptah Lighthouse](http://sailorptah.deviantart.com/art/The-Ptah-Lighthouse-176290251)! -- in spite of having gotten spoilers of what's to come. She isn't comfortable in the lighter gravity of the smaller planets, or the gas giants' moons.)

The five Xyll senshi, now adults, become the mentors for the young Sol senshi in training: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune. Helenity impresses little Princess Uranus with her stories of ace flying. Florenity helps Princess Jupiter to master her own version of the Flower Hurricane attack. Also, all the m/f couples that were even vaguely telegraphed in-story have paired off, and are on track to become the parents of a generation of chibi senshi...except in the case of Rhea, because the next Sailor Rhea is one of the eimei. (They came along in the mass migration too.)

Unfortunately for everyone involved, Metallia learned a few things from the last attack, and when Queen Beryl rises, she doesn't pussyfoot around. A single mindwipe brings with it the entire population of Earth (except the Prince, who has Plot Armor). The war begins and ends in a day. Queen Serenity breaks out the Power of Love and puts everyone on the fast track to reincarnation.

Into the ruins steps Sailor Saturn, awakened and transformed for the first time in decades. Maybe centuries. The blade of her glaive reflects earthlight, glowing silver under the stars.

The only other person left standing -- Sailor Ptah -- gives her a professional nod.

"So you're my counterpart," she says. "Huh. I just noticed that we kinda have the same hair."

"Nice to meet you," says Saturn. "Sorry about the whole destruction-of-Chronos thing."

"Nah, it's cool," says Ptah. "I got a look at the story notes, and learned that this was all buildup to a much better-written story taking place mostly on future Earth. So I'm over it."

"Plot-device vision is pretty awesome, all right," agrees Saturn, and drops her glaive.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Osiris Descending](https://archiveofourown.org/works/478827) by [ErinPtah](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ErinPtah/pseuds/ErinPtah)




End file.
